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Tuesday, March 22, 2011

U.N. Atomic Chief Addresses Japan Crisis

U.N. Atomic Chief Addresses Japan Crisis

PARIS — Emergency workers have made “positive developments” in attempts to tackle the crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, but the situation in Japan has highlighted the shortcomings of international coordination of such disasters, the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency said Monday.
“The crisis has still not been resolved and the situation at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant remains very serious,” the director general, Yukiya Amano, told an emergency board meeting of the agency in Vienna. He noted that “high levels” of radiation contamination had been measured around the plant.
But he added, “We are starting to see some positive developments.” He cited in particular Sunday’s restoration of electrical power to the second unit at the power station and a reduction in pressure levels in containment vessels in the plant’s third unit.
Mr. Amano, a Japanese citizen, just ended an inspection visit to Japan, during which he called on government officials to disclose more information on the state of the plant and pledged agency assistance for the authorities, especially in monitoring. “I have no doubt that this crisis will be effectively overcome,” he said.
The grave situation at the power plant shows that the international emergency response framework needs to be “reassessed,” he said.
“It was designed largely in the wake of the Chernobyl disaster in 1986, before the information revolution,” he said at the meeting. “It reflects the realities of the 1980s, not of the 21st century.”
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