Tokyo/Fukushima, Mar 22 : Japanese workers struggling to avert a nuclear disaster today succeeded in reconnecting all six reactors to power lines at the quake-hit
Fukushima plant, marking a significant progress in the tedious task of bringing the radiation-leaking complex under control.
The development came as the tsunami-hit northeast was again jolted by a series of powerful quakes, including two measuring 6.6 on the Richter Scale.
In a major relief in their efforts, engineers working overtime at Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant reconnected all six reactors to external power, the plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Company said today, according to Kyodo news agency.
The progress was made despite the efforts to restore power and cool down spent nuclear fuel pools being hampered by the detection of smoke at the No 2 and No 3 reactors.
However, TEPCO cautioned that a lot of work still needed to be done before electricity can actually be turned on at the plant.
The company said workers are checking all additional equipment for damage to make sure cooling systems can be safely operated.
Authorities earlier sought the help of the US military in tackling the "extremely tough" situation at the plant, close to which highly concentrated radioactivity was detected in iodine and cesium in seawater, sparking fears about food safety.
TEPCO said the seawater pollution in the region had expanded, but the country's nuclear safety agency said there were no immediate health threats.
The amount of radioactive iodine reached 80.3-fold of the standard level at the point 8 km south of the plant and 16.4-fold at the point 16 km south, Kyodo news agency reported.
The Fukushima prefectural government denied the possibility that seafood from the area was distributed to markets saying fishing had not been conducted near the nuclear plant, where emergency workers battled to avert a widespread disaster by trying to reconnect power lines and cool overheating reactors.
The critical restoration work at the plant was stalled yesterday after smoke rose from No 2 and No 3 reactors, fuelling fears of fresh radiation leaks from the area rocked by the March 11 quake of magnitude 9 and devastating tsunami that left over 22,000 people dead or unaccounted for in Japan's northeast.
Firefighters and the Self-Defense Forces (SDF) today also managed to throw in 18 tons of seawater into the nearly boiling storage pool that is holding spent nuclear fuel. The move succeeded in cooling the pool to 50 degrees Celsius, according to TEPCO.
The pool was throwing up steam possibly carrying radioactive elements into the air.
The US Geological Survey, meanwhile, said that two 6.6-magnitude quakes and one measuring 6.4 on the Richter Scale were reported within two and a half hours off
Japan's northeastern Honshu coast, starting from 1248 IST. However, there were no reports of casualties or damage.
Japan's National Police Agency said the number of those killed or were unaccounted for following the devastating March 11 earthquake and tsunami topped 22,000.
It said the death toll reached 9,080 in 12 prefectures, while 13,561 people remained missing in six prefectures.
Three companies -- Sony Corp, Toyota Motor Corp and Honda Motor Co -- announced temporary halts or extensions of shutdowns of production at plants in Japan due to shortage of parts a result of so many ruined factories.
Bulgaria meanwhile temporarily moved its embassy from Tokyo to Fukuoka, over fears of nuclear radiation.
On the nuclear crisis, Defence Minister Toshimi Kitazawa said the smoke rising from the No 2 reactor at the Fukushima plant were vapours caused by water-discharging
operations. He said the blackish smoke was detected yesterday at No 3 reactor as some rubble had caught fire after a rise in temperature.
Japanese defence authorities have also sought support of the US military to jointly tackle the ongoing nuclear crisis and coordination is underway, Kitazawa said. SDF
helicopters will begin measuring "drastically changing" temperatures at the plant daily except for rainy days to "relieve people's concerns," instead of the earlier planned twice a week, he said.
Following the powerful quake and tsunami, the cooling functions failed at the No 1, No 2 and No 3 reactors and their cores are believed to have partially melted.
Industry Minister Banri Kaieda said separately that the situation remained "extremely" tough. "It is difficult to say that things are showing progress...," he was quoted as saying.
Prime Minister Naoto Kan had yesterday said that slow but "steady progress" is being made in tackling the brewing crisis at the quake-hit power plant.
TEPCO, meanwhile, began studying the crisis' impact on the sea after detecting highly concentrated radioactive substances near the Fukushima plant's water discharging outlets.
The Vienna-based IAEA also said the Japanese authorities have reported that they will measure radioactivity in the marine environment around the Fukushima plant. The
monitoring will be done by the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology, results of which will be provided on Thursday, it said.
The Japanese government may need to create three different supplementary budgets for fiscal 2011 to finance reconstruction work after the devastating earthquake,
National Policy Minister Koichiro Gemba said. PTI
