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发表于 2011-3-21 01:25 AM
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HONG KONG (MarketWatch) –- Japanese workers pushed ahead with efforts Monday to connect electrical power to the remaining disabled reactors at the heavily damaged Fukushima Daiichi power plant, as the World Bank offered an upbeat assessment on the impact of the nuclear crisis, saying the effects will be “short-lived.”
The World Bank also forecast Japan’s economy would slow temporarily before reaccelerating in the second half of the year.
Power cables were hooked up to the No. 2 and No. 5 reactors Sunday, with efforts Monday turning to switching on key systems to monitor radiation and other data, power up the control rooms, and cool down the reactors and their spent-fuel storage pools, according to a Kyodo News report.
Reactor No. 2 will need replacement parts for its electrical system, which could delay the restoration of its cooling systems a few more days, while damage to the pressure-suppression chamber of the containment vessel could also hamper efforts to normalize the reactor, Kyodo reported citing statements by Japan’s Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency.
However, an earlier Wall Street Journal report said No. 5 was less of a concern, as the temperature in its spent-fuel pool was close to normal. See earlier report on Japanese nuclear crisis.
Meanwhile, Japan’s military sprayed water from fire engines at the No. 4 reactor’s spent-fuel pool for a second day earlier Monday.
Nuclear-safety officials had said Sunday that the pressure in reactor No. 3 had spiked, possibly forcing the plant’s operator to vent radioactive gas into the air. But the pressure later stabilized and the venting plan was canceled, reports said.
Cool and wet conditions persisted around Fukushima on Monday, with winds blowing from the northwest out to the Pacific Ocean, Japan’s weather agency said.
Prime Minister Naoto Kan cancelled a planned visit to an area 20 kilometers (12 miles) from the leaking reactor as forecasts for more rain made it too dangerous for the intended visit by helicopter, reports said.
Japan’s government has said that once the emergency has ended, the Fukushima facility, about 150 miles north of Tokyo, will be closed permanently.
The Fukushima Daiichi power plant was already one of the most trouble-prone nuclear facilities in Japan, even before the devastating earthquake and tsunami that knocked out its cooling systems and precipitated the worst nuclear crisis in 25 years, according to a report by Wall Street Journal, which examined regulatory documents. See full report on Fukushima Daiichi plant at WSJ.com.
World Bank weighs in
The World Bank said a temporary economic slowdown in Japan due to the catastrophe will have only a modest impact on the economies of other Asian nations, which are major trading partners with Japan.
“We expect the economic impact of this disaster on the East Asian region to be fairly short-lived,” Vikram Nehru, the World Bank’s chief economist for the region, was cited as saying in reports. “We expect growth in Japan will pick up as reconstruction efforts accelerate.”
In formulating its assessment, the World Bank cited outside estimates of the damage, which range from $122 billion to $135 billion, or 2.5% to 4% of Japan’s gross domestic product, according to Dow Jones Newswires.
Damages from Japan’s 1995 Kobe earthquake ending up costing about $100 billion or some 2% of gross domestic product.
The World Bank said if growth in the Japanese economy were to slow by 0.25 to 0.50 percentage points, exports from developing East Asian nations such as Indonesia and the Philippines would slow by up to 1.5%. |
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发表于 2011-3-21 01:12 AM
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