Cooler but still well above normal this week

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By ERIC TALMADGE and SHINO YUASA, Associated Press


      FUKUSHIMA, Japan (AP) - In the shadow of Japan's struggle to
stem radioactive leaks from its stricken nuclear complex, police in
white moon suits pull bodies of tsunami victims from an evacuated
zone in halting work interrupted by radiation alarms.


      Authorities are increasingly turning to international help in
stabilizing the plant and stemming the tide of radiation, while
simultaneously dealing with the other disaster wrought by a March
11 tsunami: the decimation of hundreds of miles (kilometers) of
northeastern coastline, the displacement of tens of thousands and
the deaths of an estimated 19,000 people.


      "We find bodies everywhere - in cars, in rivers, under debris
and in streets," a police official from the hard-hit Fukushima
prefecture said Thursday. He spoke to The Associated Press on
condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to
reporters.


      Efforts to recover the bodies from the 12-mile (20-kilometer)
evacuation zone around the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant have been
slowed by the scale of destruction and a wasteland of debris, but
also by fears of radiation. Police in that prefecture dressed in
full radiation suits grabbed 19 corpses from the rubble on
Wednesday, the police official said.


      Authorities declined to say how many bodies might still be
buried in the evacuation zone, but local media have estimated
hundreds remain.


      Each officer wears a radiation detector and must leave the area
whenever its alarm goes off - a frequent occurrence that has often
dragged the operation to a halt, the official said.


      "We want to recover bodies quickly, but also must ensure the
safety of police officers against nuclear radiation," he said.


      Officers were forced to give up trying to recover one corpse
Sunday after radiation on it triggered the alarm.


      There are also concerns about the disposal of bodies since
Japanese tend to cremate their dead, and fires can spread
radiation. The Health Ministry recommends that the bodies should
all be cleaned and those with even small levels of radiation should
be handled only by people wearing suits, gloves and masks.


      Police in affected prefectures have so far recovered more than
11,000 bodies, but estimate that at least 19,500 are dead.


      Radiation concerns have also complicated efforts to bring the
plant itself under control. Contaminated water pooling inside the
complex has begun to leak into the ground and ocean and has
restricted where crews can work, and puts them in the uncomfortable
position of having to pump in more water to continue cooling the
reactors while simultaneously pumping out contaminated water.


      Japanese officials have struggled to stabilize the plant and are
increasingly seeking help to stem and identify leaks. French,
American and IAEA experts and robots are all in Japan or on their
way.


      Not only are officials struggling to get water out of the plant,
but they are also beginning to run short of places to put it.
Operations at one unit were suspended earlier in the week because
its storage tank was filling up. The country's nuclear safety
agency said the plant operator is considering a variety of stopgap
measures, including bringing in more storage tanks, loading it onto
a tanker ship and building a new makeshift waste facility.


      Experts in eliminating contaminated water from French nuclear
giant Areva arrived in Japan on Wednesday. France is heavily
dependent on nuclear power and has offered regular evaluations of
the fight in Fukushima.


      "The amount of water is enormous, and we need any wisdom
available," said nuclear safety agency spokesman Hidehiko
Nishiyama. The U.S. has also sent a remote-controlled robot, and
officials from the plant operator, Tokyo Electric Power Co., said
they expect to use it within a few days for evaluating areas with
high radiation.


      French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who arrived Thursday in Tokyo
to speak with the Japanese prime minister, praised the work being
done at the plant.


      "Every image I have seen is really, really disturbing, and I am
really impressed by the workers in Fukushima who work at the
nuclear plant with courage," Sarkozy said before meeting with
Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan.


      Japan has also sought expertise from the U.S., which stations
thousands of troops in the Asian country. On Thursday, Tokyo said
it was setting up a panel of Japanese and American nuclear experts
and American military personnel to address the Fukushima crisis.


      Because of the radiation leaks a mandatory evacuation zone
around the plant has been ordered, and authorities have also
recommended people in the 20-mile (30-kilometer) band might want to
leave, too.


      At the edge of the no-man's land, a former training ground for
elite athletes has been transformed into a base camp for the
subcontractors, military troops, firefighters and power utility
employees working around the clock to stabilize the plant.


      "It isn't perfect, but it does provide a place for the workers
to pull back and get some rest before they have to go back in,"
said Hirota Oyama, a spokesman for Tokyo Electric Power Co., which
operates the nuclear plant.


      Workers go into the plant in shifts, and frequently stop short
because of the high radiation levels on its grounds. They must wear
full-body protective gear and gulp down canned goods or other foods
that are not exposed to the contaminated air.


      The International Atomic Energy Agency reported Wednesday that
radiation levels in a village outside even the voluntary band
registered at twice the threshold the agency recommends for
evacuations, raising questions about whether to expand the
mandatory 12-mile (20-kilometer) zone.


      Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said authorities are
carefully monitoring the radiation in village of Iitate, 25 miles
(40 kilometers) from the plant.


      "But we believe the situation does not require any immediate
change to our current evacuation policy," he added.


      Contamination from the plant has also been seeping into the sea,
posing no threat to human health because fishing and swimming
aren't allowed in the vicinity but sparking concern about the
continued leaks, Nishiyama said.


      However, radiation levels are rising. Seawater some 360 yards
(330 meters) from the shore south of the plant measured 4,385 times
the legal limit, up from 3,355 times the allowed amount the
previous day, officials from plant operator Tokyo Electric Power
Co. said.


      Experts say the radioactive particles are unlikely to build up
significantly in fish, and in any case is expected to dissipate
quickly in the vast Pacific Ocean.


      Associated Press writers Ryan Nakashima and Mari Yamaguchi in
Tokyo contributed to this report.
      

Gallery

More radioactive water spills at Japan nuke plant

Disasters

In the shadow of Japan's struggle to
stem radioactive leaks from its stricken nuclear complex, police in
white moon suits pull bodies of tsunami victims from an evacuated
zone in halting work interrupted by radiation alarms.

Radiation slows recovery of dead near Japan plant

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