U.S. urges Americans within 50 miles of Japanese nuclear plant to evacuate; NRC chief outlines dangerous situation

A report on the Japanese crisis this week by Barclays Capital said, “Never, never, never allow the water level in a nuclear reactor to fall below the level of the fuel. This is the mantra pounded into the minds of nuclear power plant operators all over the world.” The report added, “It is hard to overemphasize the importance of the ‘keep the fuel covered’ training and design of these plants.” One of the report’s authors formerly provided such training at a U.S. commercial nuclear plant.

The only solution sounds simple but has apparently proved impossible for the Japanese crews: spray water by any means possible. “Just get a firehose up there if you can,” said Arnie Gundersen, a nuclear engineer.

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 Japan battles to prevent a nuclear catastrophe and to care for millions of people without power or water in its worst crisis since World War II.

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Track the status of the nuclear crisis in Japan.

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The lack of water in at least one spent-fuel pool sparked fears of a worst-case scenario: the fuel could combust.

“If there’s no water in there, the spent fuel can star a fire,” said Eric Moore, a consultant to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission on nuclear plant design and safety issues. “Once you have that fire, there’s a high risk of radiation getting out, spewed by the fire.”

In Japan, authorities scrambled Wednesday to find ways to cool the overheated elements at the nuclear plant and prevent them from emitting potentially lethal radiation.

As radiation levels in the air above the plant spiked dangerously for the second consecutive day, U.S. Ambassador John V. Roos issued a recommendation based on a review of “the deteriorating situation” at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant by experts from the NRC and Energy Department.

“Consistent with the NRC guidelines that apply to such a situation in the United States, we are recommending, as a precaution, that American citizens who live within 50 miles (80 kilometers) of the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant evacuate the area or to take shelter indoors if safe evacuation is not practical,” Roos said in a statement.

Japan has asked people living within 12 miles of the plant to evacuate and urged those living between 12 and 18 miles away to stay indoors. The Fukushima Daiichi plant, about 150 miles north of Tokyo, is one of Japan’s largest nuclear facilities and is normally capable of producing more than 4,500 megawatts of electricity.

The conflicting evacuation recommendations prompted a barrage of questions at Wednesday’s White House and State Department news briefings about the adequacy of the information Japan is providing to its citizens.

U.S. officials maintained that the 50-mile recommendation simply reflects the advice the NRC would give if such an incident occurred in the United States. White House spokesman Jay Carney said the recommendation is “based on new information and a deteriorating and fast-moving situation” and does not reflect adversely on “the quality of information or the level of cooperation” in Japan.

Earlier Wednesday, the Pentagon announced that U.S. forces participating in relief operations in Japan will not be allowed within 50 miles of the plant. Officials also said some flight crews are being issued potassium iodide tablets, which can reduce the risk of thyroid cancer from radiation exposure. The measure was described as precautionary. Several U.S. helicopter crews have been exposed to low levels of radiation, but no service members have shown signs of illness.