針對日本福島第一核電廠損壞事故，東京電力公司（東電）17日發佈一項搶救計畫，預計要在6到9個月內，冷卻廠內的盒子反應爐，並降低輻射外洩量。於此同時，一對遠端遙控機器人在核電廠中的三座反應爐建築物內偵測到輻射指數過高，已超出工作人員可作業的標準。
東電18日發佈核電廠輻射數據和相關照片，該些照片係由美國製的地面機器人─PackBot於4月17、18日所拍攝。發佈的資料顯示輻射指數已超出人體可承受的標準，工作人員無法進入反應爐建築物內進行作業。
這是自3月11日發生地震和海嘯以來，核電廠內部情形首次公開。地震造成的海嘯使得核電廠失去廠外電力供應和緊急供電系統損壞而造成冷卻功能故障。核燃料棒發生局部融解，造成廠內六座反應爐中三座發生氫氣爆炸，並產生高量的輻射外洩使許多工作人員離開該核電廠。
官員18日首次表示二號反應爐的用過燃料棒已經受損。日本原子力保安院向原子力安全委員會提出的報告中，指出一、二和三號反應爐的部份燃料芯塊和燃料棒已過熱而產生融化，這是原子力保安院首次提供核燃料的受損細節。
目前福島電廠的六座反應爐都已經關閉，但核反應爐的壓力艙溫度仍維持高於冷停機（cold shutdown）過後所應維持的溫度，一般冷停機後的溫度會低於攝氏約攝氏95度。
東電數個禮拜以來持續地向三號和四號反應爐內噴灑冷卻水來覆蓋核燃料。東電表示，機器人在三號反應爐內偵測長達兩個半小時，但機器人在反應爐的瓦礫殘骸中難以四處走動。目前測到最高的輻射量為每小時57毫西佛。
如果人體在這樣的環境下待五個小時，就等於曝露在285毫西佛的輻射中，而35毫西佛就已經超出緊急狀況下核電廠工作人員可工作的法定限制輻射量。
機器人調查一、二號反應爐時測量出較低的輻射量。日本向聯合國原子能總署報告表示，有28位工作人員在努力穩定受損的核電廠時已經吸收了高量的輻射。
日本經濟產業省和東電17日發佈「福島核電廠災後重建準則」。該準則列出了63項措施要在六到九個月的期間內逐步實行。經濟產業省大臣海江田萬里稱這項計畫是「使日本繼續往前的重要一步」。
海江田說到：「把握機會，我們要從現在的警急應變階段進入行動計畫和穩定階段，依照準則具體的指示，這個階段的目標是要解決目前的危機狀況。」
東電表明在六到九個月中，它們會盡一切努力來幫助被疏散的居民重返他們的家園，並且讓所有的公民可以擁有健全的生活。
在4月17日的記者會上，東電會長勝俁恆久向大家說明公司的計畫。他表示公司計畫要鋪放大量的覆蓋物在反應爐建築物上，來預防輻射物質擴散到空氣中。
在接下來的三個月中，東電計畫要持續注水進入保護罩內來覆蓋核燃料棒，進而冷卻第一和第三號反應爐。並淨化受輻射汙染的冷卻水後，將冷卻水排回反應爐內，再建造冷卻散熱器來降低反應爐的熱量。
東電表示會修補二號反應爐受損的部份，使洩漏的輻射保留在反應爐內，接著會再用同樣的措施來處理其他兩座反應爐。第二階段，東電計畫要將反應爐中的核燃料溫度降低到攝氏100度以下。
日本首相菅直人在18日表示，有鑑於福島核電廠的災害，日本政府會暫緩興建新的核電廠。根據日本共同社報導，菅直人向議會表示：「在政府尚未完成所有意外災害的檢測並確認核電廠在國內的安全之前，政府將不會進行目前為止所有被提出有關核電廠的相關計畫。」
在發生地震危機之前，日本政府為了要減緩全球暖化問題，已計畫要在2030年之前增建至少13座核電廠。日本現有54座核電廠在運作，還有兩座正在興建中。
Tokyo Electric Power Company on Sunday issued a plan for cooling down the reactors and reducing radiation leaks within six to nine months at the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant on Japan's Pacific coast.
The plan was announced as a pair of remotely controlled robots measured radiation levels inside three of the reactor buildings too high for workers to endure.
On Monday, TEPCO released radiation data and photos taken by the U.S.-made PackBot ground robots on Sunday and Monday. Measurements showed that radiation levels are too high for workers to enter the reactor buildings.
This is the first time conditions inside the buildings have been made public since the March 11 earthquake and tsunami caused the loss of cooling functions to the nuclear fuel when offsite power and emergency backup power were lost.
Partial meltdowns of the nuclear fuel rods caused hydrogen gas explosions in three of the plant's six reactors and high radiation levels have kept workers out of the buildings.
Officials announced for the first time Monday that spent fuel rods in the Unit 2 reactor are damaged. Japan's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency sent a report to the Nuclear Safety Commission, also saying that some fuel pellets and rods in the reactors in Units 1, 2 and 3 had overheated and melted, the first time the agency has given details of damage to the nuclear fuel.
All six reactors are shut down, but temperatures in the nuclear reactor pressure vessels remain above cold shutdown conditions in all units, typically less than 95 degrees Celsius.
TEPCO continues to spray cooling water into Units 3 and 4 to cover the nuclear fuel, an operation that has been going on for weeks.
TEPCO said the robots surveyed inside the Unit 3 reactor for two hours and 30 minutes, but TEPCO says the robots had trouble moving around through the debris. The maximum radiation reading obtained was 57 millisieverts per hour.
A person remaining in such an environment for five hours would be exposed to 285 millisierverts of radiation - 35 millisierverts above the legal limit for nuclear workers in emergency situations.
A robot surveyed Units 1 and 2 for shorter periods and measured slightly lower levels of radiation.
Japan reported to the UN nuclear agency that 28 workers have received high radiation doses as they struggled to stabilize the damaged power plant.
On Sunday, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry and TEPCO announced the "Roadmap towards Restoration from the Accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station." The roadmap outlines 63 measures to be taken in two steps over a period of six to nine months.
Industry Minister Banri Kaieda called the plan "an important step forward."
"Taking this opportunity," Kaieda said, "we would like to move from the 'emergency response phase' up until now to the 'planned and stabilizing action phase,' in which the settlement of the situation will be aimed under the solid roadmap."
TEPCO declared the company will "make every effort to enable evacuees to return to their homes and for all citizens to be able to secure a sound life" within six to nine months.
At a news conference Sunday TEPCO Chairman Tsunehisa Katsumata explained the company's plan.
He said the company plans to put enormous covers over the reactor buildings to prevent the further release of radioactive substances into the air.
Over the next three months, TEPCO aims to cool the Unit 1 and 3 reactors by continuing to inject water into the containment vessels to cover the fuel rods. The company plans to purify contaminated cooling water, return it to the reactors and set up heat exchangers to remove heat from the reactors.
At the Unit 2 reactor, TEPCO says it will contain the radiation leak by patching the damaged section, then take the same measures as at other two reactors.
In the second stage, TEPCO plans to lower the temperature of the fuel in the reactors to below 100 degrees Celsius.
Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan on Monday said the government is suspending the plans to build new nuclear power plants in view of the ongoing crisis at Fukushima Daiichi.
"We will not proceed with the plans that have been put forward until now" before the government completes a full examination of the accident and makes sure that nuclear plants in the country are safe," Kan told parliament, Kyodo News reported.
Before the crisis, the Japanese government had planned to add at least 13 more nuclear power stations by 2030 in an attempt to limit global warming. Japan now has 54 operating nuclear power plants, with two others under construction.
全文及圖片詳見：ENS報導
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