Nuke power needed, says former disaster response chief

[Coss]

Thailand needs nuclear power plants as the country might not able to generate enough electricity from fossil fuels in 20 or 30 years' time, Foundation for National Disaster Warning Council chairman Smith Dharmasaroja said on Thursday.

 

Nuclear power is a clean energy and can be used for maximum benefit, he said.

 

Constructing a nuclear power plant takes a long time and people now need to understand its advantages and disadvantages, Mr Smith said.

 

He said the radiation escaping from the quake-hit nuclear power plants in Japan should not affect Thailand at this time, but it could reach the country by the end of this year, depending on the direction of the winds.

 

The intensity of radioactive particles would likely diminish, but the situation would have to be re-evaluated, he said.

 

Meanwhile, the government has asked traders to slow imports of food from Japan, especially fruit and vegetables, as the radiation scare spreads.

 

Food and Drug Administration secretary-general Pipat Yingsiri said that health staff need time to check food imports from Japan.

 

"Vendors cannot sell Japanese fruits and vegetables until laboratory checks on samples confirm that they are safe.

 

"The results should be known within 24 hours," Mr Pipat said.

 

The FDA has to keep a close eye on imported food from Japan because of the increased radiation levels from the damaged nuclear power reactors in Fukushima.

 

More samples of imported Japanese seafood will be collected for examination by officials from the Office of Atoms for Peace (OAP), he said.

 

"The FDA will continue monitoring food imported from Japan for at least another two months. If any contamination is found, then safety measures will be more stringent," Mr Pipat said

 

The FDA collected 65 samples from food imported from Japan between March 16 and 23 for examination. Thirty-nine of the samples had been examined and none of them were contaminated.

 

Mr Pipat said Thailand imported very little fruit and vegetables from the disaster-hit country.

Wasabi, a popular condiment, was also grown in Thailand.

 

Thailand does not import milk from Japan, even though some brands have a Japanese label, the FDA official said.

 

In Japan, a nuclear safety agency said three workers at the damaged Fukushima Daiichi plant were exposed to high radiation as they sought to restore power to reactor three, with two of them hospitalised.

 

"Three workers who were working to lay cables in the basement of the turbine building were exposed to radiation between 170 to 180 milli-sieverts," a spokesman for the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA) said.

 

"Two were sent to hospital after they found themselves in a puddle of water. Although they wore protective clothing, the contaminated water seeped in and their legs were exposed to radiation."

 

An exposure of 100 milli-sieverts per year is considered the lowest level at which any increase in cancer risk is evident.

 

"Direct exposure to radiation usually leads to inflammation and so that's why they were sent to the hospital to be treated," the spokesman added.

 

All three were workers with subsidiaries of Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) which operates the crippled Fukushima Daiichi plant situated roughly 250 kilometres (155 miles) northeast of Tokyo.

 

TEPCO said that a total of 14 workers have been exposed to at least 100 milli-sieverts since the March 11 quake and tsunami cut off the plant's power supply and knocked out backup systems, causing the cooling systems to fail.

 

This left the fuel rods inside to heat up and evaporate water, threatening a full meltdown. The plant has been hit by explosions and fires and has emitted high levels of radiation, prompting the evacuation of tens of thousands.

 

Fire and army crews have hosed down the reactors to cool them and topped up spent fuel rod pools in desperate measures intended to stop a major disaster, but also creating radioactive steam.

 

The government has declared an exclusion zone with a radius of 20 kilometres around the power station, while telling those within 20 to 30 kilometres to stay indoors.

 

"Contrary to being exposed to radiation by air, the workers were not sufficiently aware of the risk as they immersed their feet in the contaminated water," government spokesman Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said.

 

"They need to be treated thoroughly and we need to make efforts so this won't happen again," he added.

 

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