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Japan tries to contain nuclear crisis
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Japan's Prime Minister Naoto Kan says his country must deal with the nuclear crisis with unity. His statement comes after TEPCO continues its struggle to contain the nuclear crisis at the the damaged Fukushima Dai-ichi plant.
Meanwhile, a rival from Kan's ruling party has publicly blasted the leader's handling of the nuclear crisis.
TEPCO is pumping more water into the damaged No.1 reactor at Fukushima plant to cool the facility. On Friday, the company raised the flow of water from 6 to 8 tons per hour in order to submerge the reactor. TEPCO says it aims to prevent pressure from falling too low, which could allow air to get inside the reactor and cause a hydrogen explosion.
Meanwhile, the company also released photos of its workers entering the reactor No.1 building.
It says the workers managed to install a total of 8 air ducts inside the highly radioactive building after one-and-a-half hours of work on Thursday. The company says the new ventilation system, used to purify the radioactive air, is now working well.
It says if the radiation levels have fallen, workers will enter the building as early as Sunday to install new devices and inspect damage.
On Friday, Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan held a cabinet meeting, saying the country must deal with two disasters, the earthquake and tsunami cleanup as well as the nuclear crisis.
Naoto Kan, Japanese Prime Minister, said, "It is not by choice that we have to deal with this crisis on two fronts, but our countries is nonetheless forced to do so."
Due to safety concerns, Kan also asked Chubu Electric Corp. to stop all reactors at its coastal Hamaoka nuclear plant in Shizuoka. He says some power shortage will be expected in Chubu region and asked residents to understand the measures.
Meanwhile, Kan also admitted the government has lacked collaboration since the March 11th earthquake.
This was rival Ichiro Ozawa's criticism of Kan in the ruling party. Ozawa says radiation was released randomly from Fukushima plant due to the bad government response.
