Weapons-grade plutonium was found in the soil surrounding Japan’s crisis-stricken power plant yesterday, heightening fears at the facility, where workers have struggled for weeks to keep the nuclear lid from blowing off its damaged, leaky reactors.
The world’s most serious atomic crisis in 25 years went from bad to worse after crews discovered traces of the material — a key ingredient in nuclear weapons.
“The situation is very grave,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said today. “We are doing our utmost efforts to contain the damage.”
Still, plant managers downplayed the discovery of the plutonium 238, 239 and 240.
The Tokyo Electric Power Co., which owns the plant, said only two of the plutonium samples taken yesterday were from the leaking reactors. The other three were from earlier nuclear tests, executives said.
“Plutonium found this time is at a similar level seen in soil in a regular environment, and it’s not at the level that’s harmful to human health,” insisted Sakae Muto, vice president of TEPCO.
He added that the latest readings at the Fukushima Daiichi plant — crippled by a massive earthquake and devastating tsunami on March 11 — were similar to those found after nuclear testing abroad. But experts said some of the plutonium may have come from spent fuel rods at the Fukushima plant or from damage to its Reactor No. 3, the only one to use plutonium fuel.
“While it’s not the level harmful to human health, I am not optimistic,” said Hidehiko Nishiyama, an official from the International Atomic Energy Agency.
“This means the containment mechanism is being breached, so I think the situation is worrisome.”
Plutonium breaks down very slowly and can remain dangerously radioactive for hundreds of thousands of years.
The plutonium discovery, from samples taken a week ago, was the latest in a string of sky-is-falling updates that has put Japan and much of the world on edge.
Clouds of toxic smoke, contaminated waterways and tainted vegetables from farms near the plant are just some of the headaches that pop up from day to day.
Dangerous radiation spikes have forced temporary evacuations at the plant several times.
Meanwhile, minuscule levels of radiation from the nuclear-plant incident have been detected in air and water in at least 15 US states, but the Environmental Protection Agency reaffirmed that the levels represent no threat to public health.
Samples were collected by monitors in Alaska, Alabama, California, Guam, Hawaii, Idaho, Nevada and Washington state over the past week and sent to EPA scientists for analysis.