AEC chairman warned people within 170 km of Fukushima plant might need to relocate - 24th Dec 2011

The head of the government's nuclear energy panel warned in March that all residents in areas within a 170-kilometer radius of the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant might need to be relocated in a worst-case scenario, sources close to the government have disclosed.

Japan Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) Chairman Shunsuke Kondo made the warning in a report numbering about 20 pages, which he compiled on March 25 -- two weeks after the Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant was hit by a massive tsunami generated by the Great East Japan Earthquake -- and submitted it to then Prime Minister Naoto Kan.

At the time, the plant had lost its reactor core cooling functions due to the loss of all external power, hydrogen explosions had ripped through the plant's No. 1, 3 and 4 reactor buildings, and radioactive substances were leaking from the No. 2 reactor due to a meltdown. Workers at the plant had no choice but to manually inject water into the reactors to cool down their cores.

Kondo assumed that in a worst-case scenario, another hydrogen explosion could occur in the No. 1, 2 or 3 reactor buildings, raising radiation levels. Continuing aftershocks would prevent workers from cooling down the reactors for an extended period and that all fuel in a pool for spent nuclear fuel in the No. 4 reactor building pool would melt. At the time, the pool held 1,535 fuel rods that could fill two nuclear reactors. Read More