Smoke halts efforts at Fukushima; Japan faces tainted food - Sify

Tokyo, March 21 (DPA) Gray smoke forced workers to suspend operations to restore power at reactors of a troubled nuclear power station in north-eastern Japan Monday.

Meanwhile, the nation faced a new crisis - radiation contamination to its food.

The smoke forced workers to temporarily flee from reactor 3 at Fukushima 1 nuclear power station, 250 km north-east of Tokyo. Later it stopped. No explanation was offered by government officials.

Smoke was also seen at reactor 2, but the plant's operator, Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO), said that was believed to be steam.

The smoke from reactor 3, appearing toward evening, prompted the Tokyo Fire Department to halt its cooling operation, which involves showering water over the reactor.

Japanese military and fire department trucks had spent the day spraying tonnes of water onto the overheating reactors at the plant, which suffered damage, notably to its cooling systems, in the March 11 earthquake and tsunami. The operations is designed to prevent the reactors' nuclear material from overheating.

The work was seeing results, as temperatures of the pools at all six reactors fell below 100 degrees Celsius, Defence Minister Toshimi Kitazawa said Sunday.

Two armoured vehicles were to be mobilised Monday to remove rubble at the plant, which has hampered the cooling operations.

Two German-made pumping vehicles were also on their way. The M52 Multi-Z, made by Putzmeister Holding GmbH, can dump 150 tonnes of water per hour from a height of 50 metres.

Off-site electricity reached the buildings of reactors 2 and 5, which could help the plant's operator, TEPCO, restore systems to monitor radiation, light control rooms, and cool the reactors and their spent-fuel storage pools, the Kyodo News agency reported.

First, the lights would be turned on in reactor 2, followed by the cooling systems - a process which could take two to three days - said Hidehiko Nishiyama, a specialist with the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency.

Reactors 5 and 6, which have had fewer troubles than the other four, Sunday achieved a 'cold shutdown,' meaning that the reactors had stopped safely, with the temperature of the water inside falling below 100 degrees.

The news was overshadowed, however, by fresh reports of locally produced spinach and milk being contaminated by radiation.

Spinach with high levels of radioactive iodine was found Sunday in Ibaraki, a prefecture 100 km south of Fukushima. Radiation was also detected in raw milk in Fukushima. Both levels were beyond legal limits.

Ibaraki Governor Masaru Hashimoto said the radiation posed no health risks, but he also told farmers to refrain 'voluntarily' from shipping spinach. Fukushima also told dairy farmers to do the same with their products.

The news about spinach contamination prompted major supermarkets in the Kanto region to remove spinach produced in Ibaraki from their shelves. They were also receiving telephone calls from worried consumers asking whether meat, rice and other vegetables from Ibaraki and Fukushima are safe.

Late Sunday, high levels of radiation were also detected in spinach produced in the nearby prefectures of Tochigi and Gunma.

On Monday, the government told the four prefectures - Fukushima, Ibaraki, Tochigi, Gunma - to restrict shipments of spinach and 'kakina,' a leafy vegetable, as the detection of radioactive substances in the produce surpassed legal limits.

Tokyo also told Fukushima to suspend shipments of raw milk, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano told a news conference.

Moreover, radioactive materials were found in water sampled Saturday in the prefectures of Tokyo, Tochigi, Gunma, Saitama, Chiba, Kanagawa and Niigata, while Fukushima and Ibaraki said they have found the substances in tap water, the science ministry said.

The World Health Organisation had said last week that, if there was any contamination, it would only be in agricultural products from within a 30-km radius of the stricken Fukushima plant. But recent reports indicate the problem might be more widespread.

'This is something we are finding out about more and more. Things have certainly moved on since last week,' a WHO official told DPA.

'I think it is serious, but how serious remains to be seen,' the official said, adding that a team of experts was meeting at WHO headquarters in Geneva to determine the extent of the situation.