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It could take weeks to bring the crippled
Japanese nuclear complex under control, U.S. officials said
Thursday, but they also declared there was no danger from leaking
radiation to the western United States or its Pacific territories
at this time.


      The nuclear safety officials defended their recommended 50-mile
evacuation zone for American troops and citizens in Japan.


      Meanwhile, the first evacuation flight of U.S. citizens left
Japan, the State Department said, and President Barack Obama made a
brief visit to the Japanese Embassy in Washington to sign a
condolence book.


      Obama, who was to address the crisis in a public statement later
Thursday, said at the embassy he wanted to express "how
heartbroken the American people are over this tragic incident" and
to emphasize that the U.S. was "doing everything we can to stand
by our great friends and allies."


      Gregory Jaczko, chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission,
told reporters at a White House briefing it could be some time
before the crisis is brought under control as crews are working to
cool spent-fuel rods and get the damaged Japanese reactors under
control. The activity could continue for days and "possibly
weeks," Jaczko said.


      He said the U.S. recommendation that American troops and
citizens stay 50 miles away from the nuclear complex was "a
prudent and precautionary measure to take." That evacuation zone
is far wider than that established by Japan, which has called for a
12-mile zone and has told those within 20 miles to stay indoors.

      Daniel B. Poneman, deputy secretary of energy, told the briefing
that his agency agreed with the 50-mile zone. A "very dangerous
situation" remains in Japan, he said. Information at the damaged
nuclear plant is "genuinely complex and genuinely confusing," the
deputy energy secretary added.


      Still, Jaczko said, "Basic physics and basic science tells us
that there really can't be any risk or harm to anyone here in the
United States or Hawaii or any ... territories," such as Guam,
American Samoa or the Northern Marianas.


      Jaczko said the U.S. recommendation for the 50-mile evacuation
zone was based on the "possibility of scenarios that we haven't
seen yet." He also said it was based on "prudent assumptions and
prudent assessments about what could happen." Yet Poneman said the
Japanese recommendation also was prudent.


      Asked what else was being done to get an accurate measurement to
make sure that radiation from the world's worst nuclear emergency
in a quarter century would not harm the United States, Jaczko said:
"We are really focused on making sure first and foremost that the
plants in this country are safe."


      The officials spoke as Japanese emergency workers sought to
regain control of the dangerously overheated nuclear complex,
dousing it with water from police cannons, fire trucks and
helicopters to cool nuclear fuel rods that were threatening to
spray out more radiation.


      The U.S. Energy Department said it had conducted two separate
aerial tests to measure how much radioactive material had been
deposited in Japan. That data, Poneman said, were consistent with
the recommendation for American citizens to evacuate a 50-mile
radius around the plant.

      The U.S. officials declined to criticize the Japanese call for a
smaller evacuation zone.


      "We're analyzing the information, and we're sharing it with the
Japanese," said Poneman. "The preliminary look has indicated that
the measures that have been taken (by the Japanese) have been
prudent ones. And we have no reason to question the assessment that
has been made or the recommendation that has been made by the
Japanese authorities."


      Elsewhere in Washington, Obama visited the Japanese Embassy to
sign a condolence book. "We feel a great urgency to provide
assistance to those ... who are suffering," Obama said as he
signed the book. He wrote, "My heart goes out to the people of
Japan during this enormous tragedy. Please know that America will
always stand by one of its greatest allies during this time of
need."


      The crisis has been complicated by the spare and often
contradictory information issued by the Japanese government and the
Tokyo Electric Power Co., heightening a sense of uncertainty about
what's happening in the reactors.


      "It's not easy to get information from the site," said White
House spokesman Jay Carney.


      Carney said that Obama had taken the rare step of asking the
NRC, which is an independent agency, to take into account what is
happening in Japan and to apply lessons learned to the analysis of
security and safety of reactors here. "The fact that the president
has made that request himself only adds to the urgency of that
mission," Carney said.


      Meanwhile, representatives of the nuclear energy industry said
Thursday that operators of U.S. reactors had begun taking
additional steps to better prepare for an emergency in this
country.


      While it will take some time to understand the true dimensions
of the nuclear disaster in Japan, "we will learn from them, we
will get that operating experience, we will apply it and try to
make our units even safer than they are today," said Anthony
Pietrangelo, senior vice president of the Nuclear Energy Institute,
a Washington-based industry lobbying group. He said the operators
of the country's 104 commercial nuclear reactors were taking
additional steps to prepare for emergencies.


      Some critics have suggested the administration should do more to
closely re-examine the nation's aging network of nuclear power
plants with an eye toward making them more accident-proof. In other
countries, China has said it would hold off on approving new
nuclear plants, and Germany has said it would temporarily switch
off seven aging reactors.


      Earlier this week, European Union energy officials agreed to
apply stress tests on plants across the 27-nation bloc. Spanish
Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero commissioned studies to
determine how vulnerable his country's six nuclear plants are to
earthquakes or flooding.


      Carney, when asked why the United States was not taking the more
stringent measures of some other countries, said Obama had "full
confidence" the NRC was doing its job.


      "We ... have an independent regulatory agency whose sole
mission is to constantly review and evaluate the safety and
security of the reactors in the United States," Carney said. The
nation's 104 nuclear reactors provide 20 percent of U.S.
electricity.
      

Gallery

Japanese choppers dump water on stricken reactor

Photos: Japan earthquake and tsunami aftermath

It could take weeks to bring the crippled
Japanese nuclear complex under control, U.S. officials said
Thursday, but they also declared there was no danger from leaking
radiation to the western United States or its Pacific territories
at this time.


Officials: Crisis may last weeks, no danger to US

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