WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama on Tuesday defended the use of nuclear energy despite the calamity in Japan where a nuclear power plant leaked radiation in the wake of a devastating earthquake and tsunami.
The president told Pittsburgh television station
KDKA that all energy sources have their downsides but that the U.S. — which
gets 20 percent of its electricity from nuclear power — needs to look at the
full array of them.
The president said facilities in the U.S. are
closely monitored and built to withstand earthquakes, even though nothing's
failsafe. Proponents of nuclear power fear their efforts to win over the public
to the safety of their industry have been dealt a tremendous blow by the
disaster in Japan.
"I think it is very important to make sure
that we are doing everything we can to insure the safety and effectiveness of
the nuclear facilities that we have," the president said in a second TV
interview Tuesday, with KOAT in Albuquerque, N.M.
"We've got to budget for it. I've already
instructed our nuclear regulatory agency to make sure that we take lessons
learned from what's happening in Japan and that we are constantly upgrading how
we approach our nuclear safety in this country," he said.
The president said he's been assured that any radiation
release from the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant along Japan's northeastern
coast would dissipate before reaching the U.S.
In Japan the crisis was spiraling as a fire broke
out at a reactor a day after the plant emitted a burst of radiation. The government
ordered people living within 20 miles of the plant to seal themselves indoors
to avoid exposure.
At the White House Tuesday, spokesman Jay Carney
said that unlike some other countries the U.S. was not recommending that
American citizens leave Tokyo over radiation concerns. Carney said that U.S.
officials have determined Americans in Japan should follow the same guidance
Japan is giving to its own citizens.
Nonetheless, Austria said it is moving its embassy
from Tokyo to Osaka and France recommended that its citizens leave the Japanese
capital.
The U.S. Embassy in Tokyo has told Americans to
avoid traveling to Japan.
Meanwhile more U.S. military crews were exposed to
radiation Tuesday as the Pentagon ramped up relief flights over the reeling country.
The Defense Department said the Navy started giving
anti-radiation pills to some of those exposed, and Americans on two military
bases south of Tokyo were advised to stay indoors as much as possible.
With more aid for victims on the way, the U.S. Navy
said it was redirecting three ships to work in the Sea of Japan on the
country's west coast rather than risk the hazards of radiation and the debris
field in the waters off the east coast.
Sensitive air monitoring equipment on the aircraft
carrier USS George Washington detected low levels of radioactivity from the
Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant as the carrier sat pier-side at
Yokosuka, south of Tokyo, Cmdr. Jeff Davis, a spokesman for the U.S. 7th Fleet,
said Tuesday.
Davis said that while there was no danger to the
public from the radiation levels, the commander recommended as a precaution
that military personnel and their families at the two bases, Yokosuka and Naval
Air Facility Atsugi, limit their outdoor activities and seal ventilation systems.
The Navy said Monday that radiation was detected by
another carrier, the USS Ronald Reagan, and that 17 helicopter crew members had
to be decontaminated after returning from search and rescue duty. The Navy said
more crews were exposed to very low levels of radiation Tuesday and had to be
decontaminated.
Potassium iodide pills were given to a small number
of those crew members as a precaution, said Col. Dave Lapan, a Defense
Department spokesman.
A three-ship amphibious group, including the 31st
Marine Expeditionary Unit aboard the USS Essex, was directed to position itself
in the Sea of Japan and was to arrive Thursday for other relief duties.
Energy Secretary Steven Chu said his department has
assembled a team of 34 people and sent 7,200 pounds of equipment to Japan to
help monitor and assess the situation with the nuclear reactors.
Copyright
2011 The Associated Press.
(AP
Photo)
