VIENNA, March 17, 2011 (AFP) - The situation at Japan's stricken Fukushima nuclear plant has not worsened "significantly" over the past 24 hours, but it would be premature to talk about a ray of hope, an IAEA expert said Thursday. "At the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant the situation remains very serious. But there has been no signficant worsening since yesterday," Graham Andrew, scientific and technical advisor to the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, told a regular daily press briefing here. The current situation at units 1, 2 and 3 of the plant, whose cores had suffered damage from a number of explosions and fires since the devastating earthquake and tsunami nearly a week ago "appears to be relatively stable," Andrew said.
Rescue workers were frantically working to cool down the reactors by injecting sea water in order to prevent the worst-case scenario of a meltdown. Asked whether his assessment represented a small ray of hope in the world's worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl in 1986, Andrew replied: "I think it's too early to say that. It hasn't got worse, which is positive. But it's still possible that it could get worse. So I'd rather not speculate. I think we'd say it's reasonably stable compared to yesterday."
IAEA director general Yukiya Amano has been holding daily briefings on the unfolding nuclear crisis in Japan all week. But he was on his way to Japan for a short visit Thursday to see the extent of the devastation for himself and to discuss with the Japanese authorities how best the agency could help. Andrew briefed the press in Amano's absence. Japanese-born Amano said he aimed to have "high-level" contact, but it was not immediately clear whether he would be able to visit Fukushima itself.
On his return to Vienna, Amano is to ask the IAEA's 35-member board of governors to convene a special meeting so that he could make his report to them. The exact date had not yet been decided but diplomats close to the Vienna-based watchdog said the meeting was expected to be held as early as Monday or Tuesday next week.
spm/boc