IAEA to send 2 reactor experts to Japan
VIENNA, April 1, Kyodo
The International Atomic Energy Agency will send two reactor experts to Japan to get firsthand information about the situation of the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, a senior agency said Friday.
Starting next Monday, they will hold meetings with the country's Nuclear and Industry Safety Agency, plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. and others, Denis Flory, IAEA deputy director general and head of the department of nuclear safety and security, said at a press conference.
''The objective of this mission is to exchange views with Japanese technical experts and to get firsthand information what the current status of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant is, measures to be taken and also future plans to mitigate the accident,'' he said.
''It is not an assessment team,'' he said, adding that this will also ''pave the way for future missions which will be expert peer review missions.''
Flory also said, ''Depending on the possibility and the condition in the nuclear power plant, they will possibly go to the facility. At this time we do not know yet.''
In the briefing, IAEA experts also explained that levels of radioactive iodine-131 measured in the village of Iitate, about 40 kilometers from the Fukushima nuclear plant, decreased to an average of 7 megabecquerels per square meter in 15 soil samples taken between March 19 and March 29.
''This value is lower than what was reported on Wednesday,'' Gerhard Proehl, IAEA radiation expert, said, adding that iodine-131 decays by 8-9 percent every day.
On Wednesday, the IAEA said that levels of iodine-131 measured in the village indicated that one of its operational criteria for evacuation was exceeded. Back then measurements showed a level of 20 megabecquerels per square meter of iodine-131 in soil samples collected from March 18-26 in the village, which is twice the level of one IAEA criterion for evacuation.
While noting the need for the Japanese government to assess the situation carefully, Flory said Friday, ''It is their role to take action based on their assessment.''
==Kyodo
Bueno… a ver si de una vez por todas nos llega información, porque entre unos y otros, la información brilla por su ausencia, y sobre todo, a ver si dan una solución palpable.
En fin… vaya tela.
Un Saludo…