Japanese specialists have been able to bring under their control the situation at the Fukushima nuclear power plant, damaged by Friday's devastating earthquake and posing the risk of a radiation leak, a source at the UN nuclear watchdog told RIA Novosti over the phone on Sunday.
The tremor, which struck the country's northeast, was the most powerful ever recorded in Japan, registering nine points on the Richter scale and causing a 10-meter tsunami wave that swept away people, houses and cars.
The Fukushima Number One nuclear power station, about 250 km (155 miles) northeast of Tokyo, was hit by a blast on Saturday. The explosion at the first nuclear unit destroyed the reactor turbine building, blowing away its walls and roof, but the local authorities said the reactor itself was not damaged. A steel container covering the reactor has protected it from the blast, they said.
Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said early on Sunday that the plant's third nuclear unit also posed the risk of an explosion.
"The situation at the Fukushima nuclear power plant is currently under control. Japanese specialists are currently taking truly heroic efforts to solve problems at the nuclear power plant damaged by the earthquake. They are timely and fully informing the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)," the source said.
"The nervousness over these developments has abated and I believe that the accident is most likely to remain qualified at level 4 on the international INES scale," the source said.
The international INES scale that runs from 1 (anomaly) to 7 (major accident). According to the IAEA's definition, a level-4 accident is defined as having "local consequences," such as a "minor release of radioactive material."
The Japanese government's spokesman has said that the radiation at the third nuclear unit of the Fukushima nuclear power plant remained at the normal level.
MOSCOW, March 13 (RIA Novosti)
