Stabilising nuclear plant to take years

By Lionel Barber and Mure Dickie in Tokyo

Published: March 31 2011 19:49 | Last updated: March 31 2011 19:49

Japan’s quake-crippled atomic power station will take years to fully stabilise but officials hope to prevent any further deterioration of the plant and stem the leakage of radioactive material into surrounding areas within a matter of weeks.

Workers are battling to contain radiation from the power station amid signs it may be continuously leaking into the sea. The huge earthquake and tsunami that ravaged Japan’s north-eastern coast on March 11 knocked out the plant’s cooling systems.

Yukio Edano, Japan’s chief cabinet secretary and the minister responsible for co-ordinating efforts to resolve the nuclear crisis, told the Financial Times that new setbacks at the Fukushima Daiichi plant were possible. However, the government hoped within weeks to be able to stem the leakage of radiation and prevent the situation at the plant worsening and prevent radioactive material escaping into surrounding areas.

“If we can stop those developments, and remove people’s fears, then that may also be viewed as a sort of stability,” Mr Edano said in an interview.

Asked how long it would take to end the crisis, Mr Edano said that achieving “full stability” of the plant and its dangerously overheated spent fuel rods was generally recognised to be a multi-year task.

Interactive: The Fukushima Daiichi reactors

FT graphic tracks events, both reactor by reactor, and through a timeline, at Tokyo Electric Power Company’s (Tepco) Fukushima Daiichi atomic energy plant

Tokyo Electric Power, the utility at the centre of the worst nuclear accident in 25 years, could face claims of as much as Y11,000bn ($133bn) if the crisis lasts two years, according to estimates by Bank of America Merrill Lynch. Moody’s, the ratings agency, has twice downgraded the operator’s long-term issuer rating in two weeks.

The crisis has fuelled public fears about the safety of atomic energy in countries around the world, throwing into doubt an expected renaissance in the global nuclear power industry and forcing backers of the technology to promise even greater efforts to make the technology disaster-proof.

During a brief visit to Tokyo on Thursday, Nicolas Sarkozy, French president, agreed with Japanese prime minister Naoto Kan to work together to develop new international nuclear safety standards.

The damage to the atomic plant and other infrastructure inflicted by the tsunami and earthquake has exacerbated worries about the economic impact of a disaster feared to have killed over 27,000 people. Japanese manufacturing activity sank to a two-year low in March, with the seasonally-adjusted Markit/JMMA purchasing managers’ index marking its steepest decline since the index was first compiled in 2001.

The Fukushima Daiichi plant’s problems have sparked speculation that Tepco, the operator, could be nationalised and Japan’s atomic energy sector radically restructured.

Mr Edano, who as the government’s top spokesman has won plaudits for his matter-of-fact explanations of the complex situation at the plant, said ministers and officials had not had time to “reflect fully” on the causes of the crisis or how the industry might be reformed.

However, he said that once the situation was under control, the government would conduct a full review of atomic policy.

“We will be very open and we will not exclude any options or approaches. We will be a white sheet of paper, open to all options,” Mr Edano said.

The International Atomic Energy Agency has warned that radiation levels in Iitate, a village around 40km from the plant, exceeded its criteria for evacuation. Japan’s nuclear regulator also conceded that consistently high radiation in the sea near the complex could mean radiation was continuously leaking into the water.

However, Mr Edano stood by the government’s decision to impose a 20km exclusion zone around the plant and to advise people living with 30km to stay indoors or leave voluntarily, saying residents should face no health risk if such advice was followed.