Japan steps up cooling operation
Baku, March 17 (AZERTAC). Japan says it is stepping up efforts to cool overheating fuel at the tsunami-hit Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, according to BBC.
Helicopters dumped tonnes of water to try to prevent a meltdown of fuel rods, and media reports said water cannon had now joined in the operation on the ground.
Following the crisis, China suspended approval for new nuclear plants.
The confirmed death toll from Friday`s 9.0 magnitude quake, which triggered the tsunami, has risen above 5,000.
Police say 5,178 are confirmed dead and another 8,606 people are still missing.
`Deep condolences`
Japan`s military CH-47 Chinook helicopters began spraying tonnes of water on reactors 3 and 4 at Fukushima, 220km (140 miles) from Tokyo, at 0948 local time (0048 GMT), officials said.
The aircraft dumped four loads before leaving the site in order to minimise the crews` exposure to radiation. On Wednesday, the helicopters were forced to abort a similar operation amid concerns over high radiation levels.
The BBC`s Chris Hogg in Tokyo says the helicopters can carry an enormous amount of water but given the high winds it is difficult to know whether it has been dropped accurately.
Video footage suggests the attempts were not very successful, with most of the water falling outside the target buildings.
Later military lorries on the ground joined in with water cannon, dousing reactor 3, the NHK TV network said.
Initially police crews had tried to spray the reactor but were forced to withdraw because they would have been exposed to high radiation levels. The military vehicles, unlike those of the police, are built to allow personnel to remain inside, NHK reported.
The operation was intended to help cool the reactors and also to replenish water in a storage pond with spent fuel rods.
Officials also said they were hoping that later on Thursday they would restore the power supply to the plant, which is needed for the cooling system and back-up generators.
"If the restoration work is completed, we will be able to activate various electric pumps and pour water into reactors and pools for spent nuclear fuel," a spokesman for Tokyo Electric Power Company, which runs the plant, told the AFP news agency.
The US has also been asked to fly a drone over the site to help assess the situation.
The crisis has prompted China to suspend approval of new nuclear power stations and carry out checks on existing reactors.
China currently gets about 2% of its electricity from nuclear power, but is building more reactors than any other country in the world.
US President Barack Obama spoke to Prime Minister Naoto Kan on Thursday local time amid increasing US fears over the crisis.
The US has now chartered aircraft to help Americans leave Japan and authorised the voluntary departure of relatives of diplomatic staff.
The White House said Mr Obama conveyed "deep condolences" at the loss of life and said Washington was "determined to do everything possible to support Japan".
On Wednesday, Greg Jaczko, chairman of the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), told a congressional energy and commerce subcommittee hearing in Washington that there appeared to be serious problems with attempts to cool the reactors.
"We believe that around the reactor site there are high levels of radiation."
He said it would be "very difficult for emergency workers to get near the reactors. The doses they could experience would potentially be lethal doses in a very short period of time".
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