April 7, 2011. Japan has survived an 8.5 magnitude earthquake, walls of massive tsunami waves and multiple explosions at nuclear plants. Then came news that highly radioactive water was spilling out into the sea at the Fukushima Daiichi plant.
Heartwarming story of a dog’s rescue three weeks after Japan’s horror tsunami.
And, with that crisis barely dealt with, a new horror arises. Workers at Japan’s stricken nuclear plant on Thursday pumped nitrogen gas into a crippled reactor in a bid to contain the world’s worst atomic incident for 25 years and prevent a possible explosion.
News24 reports that with the crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi plant approaching its fourth week, operator Tokyo Electric Power said it was concerned a build-up of hydrogen gas at the No 1 reactor could cause another explosion at the site.
Greenpeace monitoring team is on the scene.
The fresh challenge underscored the fragility of the situation there, after rare progress was seen on Wednesday when workers plugged a hole spewing highly radioactive water into the ocean.
Experts say the risk of a detonation could rise as the nuclear fuel rods cool and as the steam inside the containment vessel condenses into water, reducing pressure inside the unit and drawing air in through cracks.
Workers began pumping in nitrogen, an inert gas abundant in the atmosphere, which they hope will displace the oxygen. The process to inject 6 000 cubic metres will take around six days.