— Japan is increasingly turning to other countries for help as it struggles to stabilize its tsunami-stricken nuclear plant and stop radiation leaks that are complicating efforts to recover the bodies of some of the thousands swept away by the towering wave.
French, American and international experts — even a robot — are either in Japan or on their way, and French President Nicholas Sarkozy visited Tokyo on Thursday to meet with the prime minister and show solidarity.
Workers are racing to find the source of contaminated water that has been pooling in the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant since the March 11 earthquake and tsunami. The leaks have often forced workers to flee the plant, preventing them from restarting important cooling systems.
“The amount of water is enormous, and we need any wisdom available,” said nuclear safety agency spokesman Hidehiko Nishiyama.
Experts from French nuclear giant Areva, which supplied fuel to the plant, are helping figure out how to dispose of the contaminated water that has begun leaking into the ground and the sea.
“We are not a supplier only for happy days,” CEO Anne Lauvergeon told reporters in Tokyo on Thursday. “We are effectively also there when things become difficult.”
Officials from Tokyo Electric Power Co., the operator of the plant, said they welcome the help.
“U.S. nuclear plants aren’t by the ocean, unlike Japanese ones, so we think the French may be able to help us more than the Americans,” said TEPCO manager Teruaki Kobayashi.
TEPCO officials also said they expect to use a remote-controlled robot sent by the U.S. within a few days to evaluate areas with high radiation. They are also setting up a panel of Japanese and American nuclear experts and U.S. military personnel to address the crisis.
A TEPCO spokesman said Thursday that radioactive contamination in groundwater nearly 50 feet under one of six reactors had been measured at 10,000 times the government standard for water at the plant. It was the first time the utility has released statistics for groundwater near the plant.
TEPCO did not immediately explain the health risks if that water were to get into the environment or say if that was a possibility, although spokesman Naoyuki Matsumo said the drinking water supply has not been affected. Still, elevated levels of iodine-131, a radioactive substance that decays quickly, were another sign that radiation continues to leak at the plant.
Tens of thousands of people have been displaced by the tsunami and magnitude-9.0 earthquake. Some saw their homes destroyed by the wall of water, while others have been ordered to leave if they live 12 miles from the plant. Authorities have recommended that people who live 20 miles from the plant might want to evacuate too — because of the lack of services in that area.
Some frustrated evacuees closer to the plant had begun trickling back to gather belongings and check on their homes, but officials in Fukushima prefecture posted warnings at evacuation centers telling them not to go back for any reason.
“There is not only a risk that you may be contaminated, but also that you could contaminate others in the evacuation centers when you return,” the warnings said. “The national government is now considering whether to allow brief return visits, so please bear with us.”
