U.S. official: Japan nuke situation worse
TOKYO, March 16 (UPI) -- The head of a U.S. nuclear watchdog agency said Wednesday the threat posed by Japan's quake-damaged nuclear power plants is greater than previously depicted.
The New York Times reported U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Chairman Gregory Jaczko told U.S. lawmakers the damage at one reactor was more severe than Japanese officials had disclosed and advised Americans to get further away from the plant.
Jaczko testified the NRC believed all the water in the spent fuel pool at the No. 4 reactor of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station had boiled off, leaving fuel rods stored there exposed and leaking radiation, the Times said.
"We believe that radiation levels are extremely high, which could possibly impact the ability to take corrective measures," he said.
He said radiation levels could complicate cooling procedures that have helped keep the fuel from melting at the other reactors.
The newspaper said the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo has told Americans to evacuate a radius of "approximately 50 miles" from the Fukushima plant.
U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu told a House panel Wednesday "we think there is a partial meltdown."
"We hear conflicting reports about exactly what is happening in the several reactors now at risk," he said. "I would not want to speculate about what is happening."
Earlier in the day, Japanese officials said a second reactor unit at the plant may have sustained damage to its primary containment structure and appeared to be releasing radioactive steam.
The break, at the No. 3 reactor unit came a day after officials said the containment vessel in the No. 2 reactor had also cracked.
High radiation levels above the plant led the Japanese military to hold off on a plan to dump water on the facility with helicopters.
The Pentagon said Wednesday American military forces were not allowed within 50 miles of the plant.
White steam was seen rising above the stricken facility, which was damaged by Friday's 9-magnitude earthquake and tsunami and suffered a series of explosions, military officials decided against exposing helicopter crews to the radiation.
Japanese officials have attempted to tamp down panic, saying the suspected rupture probably was not severe, the Times reported.
Tokyo Electric Power Co., which operates the plant, doubled the number of workers fighting to keep a catastrophe from occurring from 50 to 100. The utility had evacuated 750 workers Tuesday as the remaining 50 workers struggled to reduce mounting temperatures inside the reactors. The Times said an increasing number of those fighting to prevent a meltdown are military personnel.
The Fukushima plant has six reactors, three of which were shut down when the quake struck. Concerns, however, remained about the pools holding spent fuel rods even at the shut down reactors.
The Japan Times reported a request was issued to police for a water cannon to pump water into the facility. Leaking radiation was measured at 1 rem an hour at midmorning Tuesday, down from 40 rems -- some 400 times the level to which people can be exposed safely in a year. By late afternoon, radiation was measured at 0.15 rem.
Kyodo News reported an unmanned U.S. spy plane was expected to fly over the plant site Thursday.
Flames were reported at the No. 4 reactor Wednesday morning but they died down 30 minutes later. The extent of damage from the fire was not immediately known.
The government ordered injection of Pacific Ocean water to cool down the exposed rods "to avert a major nuclear disaster," Kyodo said.
"'The possibility of recriticality is not zero," the utility said Wednesday referring to the danger of the exposed fuel rods releasing more radioactivity.
To compound the problems at Fukushima, 70 percent of the nuclear fuel rods were estimated to have been damaged at the No. 1 reactor and 33 percent at the No. 2 reactor.
One scientist expressed deep concern to CNN about the workers remaining at the plant.
"It's pretty clear that they will be getting very high doses of radiation. There's certainly the potential for lethal doses of radiation. They know it, and I think you have to call these people heroes," said David Brenner, director of the Center for Radiological Research at Columbia University.
4 N.Y. Times reporters missing in Libya
TRIPOLI, Libya, March 16 (UPI) -- The New York Times said Wednesday four of its journalists in Libya are missing, among the apparent victims of scores of attacks on the media in recent weeks.
The journalists, who were reported missing Tuesday, are counted among more than 40 attacks on media personnel since February, the Committee to Protect Journalists said.
The committee said it has recorded "25 detentions, five assaults, two attacks on news facilities, the jamming of al-Jazeera and al-Hurra transmissions, at least three instances of obstruction and the interruption of Internet service" since Feb. 16.
The missing Times employees are Beirut Bureau Chief Anthony Shadid, reporter Stephen Farrell, and photographers Tyler Hicks and Lynsey Addario.
Addario and Farrell were kidnapped previously: Addario in Iraq in 2004 and Farrell in Afghanistan in 2009, The Pointer Institute said.
"We have talked with officials of the Libyan government in Tripoli, and they tell us they are attempting to ascertain the whereabouts of our journalists," Times Executive Editor Bill Keller said. "We are grateful to the Libyan government for their assurance that if our journalists were captured they would be released promptly and unharmed."
Dems try to repeal Defense of Marriage Act
WASHINGTON, March 16 (UPI) -- Democrats unveiled a bill Wednesday to repeal the federal law that bars the U.S. government from extending benefits for married couples to same-sex couples.
The Respect for Marriage Act was introduced in the Senate and the House of Representatives, Human Rights Campaign said. The Obama administration has already announced it will enforce the Defense of Marriage Act but not defend it from legal challenges.
A poll conducted for Human Rights Campaign found just over half of the U.S. public, 51 percent, opposes DOMA and 34 percent support it.
DOMA, which defines marriage as the union of a man and a woman and says states do not have to recognize same-sex marriages from other jurisdictions, became law in 1996. Eight years later, Massachusetts became the first state where same-sex marriages are legal, and four states and the District of Columbia have followed suit.
"The debate over DOMA isn't about whether you favor marriage equality, it's about whether the government can pick and choose which marriages they like, and which they don't," said rights campaign President Joe Solmonese.
Because of DOMA, same-sex couples cannot take advantage of more than 1,000 federal rights and benefits available to married couples. They include sponsoring a gay partner for immigration and filing joint income tax returns.
Congressional Republicans have said they will hire lawyers to defend DOMA.
Hillary Clinton says no to 2nd term
WASHINGTON, March 16 (UPI) -- U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Wednesday she has no interest in staying in her job beyond President Barack Obama's current term and doesn't want his job.
Clinton, in an interview with CNN, answered emphatically "no" when asked if she wants to stay on as secretary of state in a second term or become defense secretary, vice president or president.
"There isn't anything that I can imagine doing after this that would be as demanding, as challenging or rewarding," she said, speaking in Cairo.
"This is a moment in history where it is almost hard to catch your breath. There are both the tragedies and disasters that we have seen from Haiti to Japan, and there are the extraordinary opportunities and challenges that we see right here in Egypt and in the rest of the region."
Clinton, 63, said while she "had a wonderful experience" running for president in 2008 and is proud and grateful for the support she received, she has decided she will be "moving on."
"I have no intention or any idea even of running again," she said when told there were supporters who would like to see her run in 2016.
