The head of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission says that all the cooling water is gone from one of the spent fuel pools at Japan's most troubled nuclear plant, but Japanese officials are reportedly denying the claim.
"We believe that the secondary containment has been destroyed and there is no water in the spent-fuel pool," NRC Chairman Gregory Jaczko said today at a hearing of a House Energy and Commerce Committee panel in Washington. "We believe that radiation levels are extremely high, which could possibly impact the ability to take corrective measures."
Jaczko said the unit at the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant wasn't operating at the time of the March 11 earthquake and tsunami.
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The Associated Press reported that Japanese officials denied all the water has drained and said the Unit 4 reactor is "stable."
The AP report struck an ominous tone by remarking, "If NRC Chairman Gregory Jaczko is correct, this would mean there's nothing to stop the fuel rods from getting hotter and ultimately melting down. The outer shell of the rods could also ignite with enough force to propel the radioactive fuel inside over a wide area."
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Jaczko indicated radiation at the Japanese site is fluctuating, and can be life-threatening at peak levels.
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The peak levels "would be lethal within a fairly short period of time," he said, noting the pool at the plant's Unit 3, which was in service, is possibly cracked and losing water.
According to the Bloomberg News Service, Jaczko said U.S. citizens in the area have been urged to evacuate to 50 miles from the plant site, the same distance in the event of a nuclear accident in the U.S.
"We would recommend an evacuation to a much larger radius than has currently been provided by Japan," he said.
The U.S. has dispatched 11 officials from the NRC to Tokyo to help the government there respond to the nuclear crisis.
Jaczko said Japanese officials have been injecting seawater into three reactors in an attempt to keep them cool.
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