Japan nuclear crisis not yet over
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The environmental crisis arising from the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear plant in Japan is far from over, the U.N. atomic agency said.
Director General of the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Yukiya Amano told journalists in Nairobi late Friday that the crisis will take a while to be resolved. "I don't know how long it will take to contain the situation but preliminary results indicate that it will not be resolved tomorrow or the day after."
Amano, who was attending the Chief Executives Board (CEB) meeting in Kenya's capital for all UN Agencies heads, said his organization is the reference point for validated information regarding the incident in Japan.
The nuclear watch dog agency is however optimistic that the international community will come to the aid of the Asia country.
A partial meltdown of one of the nuclear reactors has released radioactive material that has contaminated a 20 mile radius of the Daiichi plant.
The UN agency said it will send two experts to Japan to get first-hand information about the status of the reactors at the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant.
Amano said the two experts will hold meetings with Japanese nuclear officials from April 4 onwards, adding that the IAEA plans conference in June to deal with Japan Nuclear disaster.
He said a conference planning to be held in Austrian capital Vienna from June 20 to 24 will discuss the nuclear crisis in Japan that was caused by massive earthquake and the resulting tsunami three weeks ago.
Amano said the conference will take stock of the accident and review safety procedures followed by Japanese authorities. "The conference will bring together experts who will assess the unfolding situation in Japan and will look at the safety standards for other nuclear plants in the country as well as the response by the international community,"Amano observed.
The conference will also be part of the commemoration of the 25 years after the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in Ukraine.
Lack of electricity in the area surrounding the plant has hampered the Japanese efforts to read instruments that could give accurate assessment on the level of damage to the nuclear reactors.
Amano expressed confidence that the Japanese nuclear accident will not affect the world community's reliance on the use of nuclear technology.
He said the disaster in Japan was caused by an earthquake and tsunami and therefore will not discourage the use of the technology. "The nuclear plant was not destroyed by human error and therefore IAEA will not influence member states to avoid the use of nuclear technology so long as they are in position to do it safely," the UN atomic agency chief told journalists.
The nuclear watchdog said since most nuclear plants have excellent safety record only energy security and price of fossils will be the key determinant on the use of nuclear.
