Japan nuclear crisis different from Chernobyl, IAEA says; China urges Tokyo to provide prompt updates on crisis

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IAEA says Japan crisis different from Chernobyl

VIENNA - The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said on Tuesday that although Japan has raised the severity level of the accident at the Fukushima No 1 plant, the crisis is quite different from the 1986 Chernobyl accident.

"The mechanics of the accidents are totally different," deputy head of IAEA Denis Flory told the press.

Related readings: Japan raises nuclear crisis to same level as Chernobyl Radiation leakage in Japan may exceed Chernobyl  Japan mulls spinning off part of nuclear operator Japan sets to extend nuclear evacuation zone

While Chernobyl accident involves explosion at the reactor core, and the resulting fire and vapors drove a large quantity of radioactive material into the air and surrounding areas, explosions at Fukushima No 1 plant happened outside the pressure vessel which contains the reactor core, Flory said.

He noted that the Japanese nuclear safety authority has estimated that the amount of radioactive material released from the Fukushima No 1 plant to the atmosphere is approximately 10 percent of the Chernobyl accident.

Flory also confirmed that Japanese authorities formally notified the IAEA that the accident is now rated as a level 7, the most serious on an international scale, from the previous 5.

Listed as "Major Accident" on the International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale, Level 7 is used to describe an event comprising "A major release of radioactive material with widespread health and environmental effects requiring implementation of planned and extended countermeasures," according to an IAEA statement.

On a positive note, Flory said although situation remains very serious, "there are early signs of recovery in some functions such as electrical power and instrumentation.

Wen urges Tokyo to provide prompt updates on crisis

BEIJING / TOKYO - Premier Wen Jiabao urged Japan on Tuesday to provide prompt information on the nuclear crisis and quickly implement preventive measures to alleviate the consequences on neighboring countries during a phone conversation with Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan

A man is tested for radiation exposure in Koriyama, Fukushima prefecture, northern Japan, on Tuesday. Koriyama is located about 70 kilometers from the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant. Japan expanded the evacuation zone around the nuclear plant on Monday because of high radiation levels. [Photo/Agencies]

The conversation took place after Japan raised the crisis level, from 5 to 7, at its crippled nuclear plant on Tuesday, a severity on par with the 1986 Chernobyl disaster.

Level 7 is the highest rank set by the International Nuclear Event Scale, which means huge quantities of radiation have contaminated a wide area.

Related readings:  Japan ups nuke crisis rating to highest level  Japan mulls spinning off part of nuclear operator  Radiation leakage in Japan may exceed Chernobyl  Japan to raise nuclear severity level to maximum  Japan to evacuate locals outside 20-km radius of nuke plant

Wen called for Japan to strictly adhere to related international laws, take preventive measures, and promptly and accurately inform China on the latest updates. 

He also said China is willing to strengthen cooperation in disaster relief and post-disaster reconstruction with Japan, adding that he wanted to "promote healthy and stable Sino-Japanese relations".

Kan said that, on behalf of the Japanese government and people, he expressed his sincere gratitude to China for immediately sending an international rescue team and offers of aid to the tsunami-devastated area.

He also expressed his gratitude to President Hu Jintao for paying a condolence visit to the Japanese embassy in Beijing, Xinhua reported.

While expressing regret for the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, Kan said Japan would promptly provide accurate information to the international community, including China, on the nuclear crisis.

The Japanese nuclear regulator told reporters on Tuesday that the raising of the severity rating from level 5 to 7 was based on new assessments of radiation leaks from the plant and that radioactive substances could affect human health and the environment.

But the agency emphasized that while the new ranking signified the radiation volume was equal to level 7, it was only one-tenth of the contamination released from Chernobyl into the atmosphere.

"Level 7 does not necessarily represent the extent of the damage, but indicates the amount of radiation released," Chen Zhuzhou, a researcher at the science and technology committee of the China National Nuclear Corporation, told China Daily.

Japan's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA) also stressed the difference between Chernobyl and Fukushima.

NISA spokesman Hidehiko Nishiyama said the acute radiation exposure at Chernobyl killed 29 people in contrast to Fukushima, where no fatal casualties were reported. He added that the reactors in the Fukushima plant retained their shape and were damaged by hydrogen explosions, unlike Chernobyl where the nuclear reactor itself exploded.

But Edano also reassured reporters that, so far, there was no "direct" damage to human health.

Youhei Hasegawa, a senior official at Japan's Meteorological Agency, said on Tuesday afternoon that a magnitude 6.3 quake which jolted northeastern Japan was one of the aftershocks. Parts of northeastern Japan were getting seismically active and more aftershocks were likely.


China Daily - Agencies 
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Penang expects to create 27,000 new job opportunities

Career advancement: Visitors checking out the booths at the 9th Penang Career & Postgraduate Expo 2011 at the Penang International Sports Arena

 By KOW KWAN YEE  kowky@thestar.com.my

Penang foresees opportunities opening with record RM12.2 billion FDI inflows
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PENANG expects to create 27,000 new job opportunities this year after the state managed to attract a record of RM12.238bil worth of foreign direct investments (FDI) last year.

State Local Government and Traffic Management Committee chairman Chow Kon Yeow said the state government expected the new job opportunities would flow in together with the inflow of foreign capital.

The jobs would be mostly be located in the electronics and electrical sector (E & E), Chow said after opening the Ninth Penang Career and Postgraduate Jobs Expo on Saturday.

He said Penang was also facing an acute shortage of electronic engineers and this needed to be addressed fast.

Career advancement: Visitors checking out the booths at the 9th Penang Career & Postgraduate Expo 2011 at the Penang International Sports Arena

On the expo, Chow said it was considered timely as it could help create greater and quality employment prospects which would further develop Penang’s economy.

Also, an international electronic manufacturing company from Shanghai, China, had set up a booth at the expo to source for Malaysian workers.

It was one of three foreign firms which were offering employment opportunities.


Hi-P International Co Ltd’s human resources supervisor Tina Yao said many foreign companies valued Malaysian workers for their skills and good conduct.

Yao said that last year was the first time that her company took part in the expo and it had recruited many Malaysians.

“This is why the company decided to join the expo for the second time, to recruit more engineers, particularly in the E & E sector,” she said.

Yao said most of the jobs offered by Hi-P were for managerial-level posts and in the research and development field.

“Most of the posts offered were based in Shanghai, while some are in Suzhou,” she said, adding that the company had representative offices in Singapore, Thailand, China, the United States, Poland and Mexico.

“We are willing to pay a salary of 30% more than the local market pricing,” she added.

The other two foreign companies were from Singapore and they were seeking for security officers and customer service personnel.

Organised by PenExpo Events Sdn Bhd, the event featured some 3,000 vacancies offered by over 50 employers with more than 70 booths set up including from the manufacturing sector and universities.

It’s just another matter of choice

Comment by BARADAN KUPPUSAMY

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The importance of the English Language has become a hot topic and issues discussed before are coming to the forefront again.

AT an Indian community leaders meeting in 2009, it was passionately argued why Science and Mathematics should be taught in Tamil and not English, as was the case in our schools from 2003 until repealed six years later.

Midway, a participant stood up and brought the heated debate to a standstill. “Why are you all debating in English? Speak in Tamil!” she said.

Very few among the debaters could articulate as confidently in Tamil, which goes to show that their mastery of English had propelled them in their jobs, career and life to the extent that many were successful.

Despite strong opposition from mainly parents, the Government reversed the “teaching Science and Maths in English” policy, better known as PPSMI, in favour of teaching in the pupil’s mother tongue in primary and Bahasa Malaysia in secondary schools.

Lately there is a move back towards English, not totally, but in a more intelligent way by providing alternatives for parents who want their children to be taught the subjects in English.

Schools tailored to teach in English are being considered to cater for parents who want it.

Providing alternatives is a key component of a fair, just and democratic education system because it gives choices for parents.

Most parents want their children to get a modern education that arms them to face and survive in a tough competitive world.

Parents are upset those choices and flexibilities are currently missing.

They say today’s globalised world is ruled by English, the language that the English colonial masters had spread across the world first through conquest and later through trade, economic development and promotion of education.

For long, education in English was elitist and enjoyed by the political elite, but later it spread to the masses through missionary schools and government support for a mass schooling system.


The process took several centuries and finally an English-speaking world took shape.

As the diverse world continued to globalise, it needed a common language and English became that language, but former colonies now independent were left grappling over the medium of instruction in their school system – whether to continue with the inherited English language or switch to the native language.

At one time or other, across Asia, Africa and the Middle East, the issue had raged.

Societies had to variously adapt to meet demands for native language as an instruction medium and the need to master English for self-advancement and for social and economic advancement.

Some African societies stuck with English and eventually became English proficient and have produced great scholars, novelists and poets whose influence goes beyond their native societies because of their mastery of the language.

A classic example is the Nigerian master Chinua Achebe.

This is not to say that non-English speaking societies have not produced equally great thinkers.

A good example is Egypt’s Naguib Mahfouz, who wrote in Arabic to win the 1988 Nobel prize for literature.

Some societies have found ingenious ways to promote their native language and English, like in Hong Kong where primary education is in Mandarin but English plays a major part in secondary education.

Ours have been a brave exercise in reversing the English medium to fully Bahasa Malaysia.

While English is taught, its mastery has been seriously hampered, especially among students from working-class families.

Numerous studies shows that our graduates are leaving colleges and universities without a grasp of English and facing problems finding jobs.

In 2003 the Government sought to reverse the damage and improve the sciences by teaching science and mathematics in English, a programme known as PPSMI.

Millions of ringgit were spent and students and teachers pressed into the scheme, with manuals being produced and high technology brought into play.

PPSMI was heavily criticised by many who wanted the subjects taught in the mother tongue, i.e. Bahasa Malaysia, Mandarin and Tamil, instead of English.

The mother tongue proponents, who were usually at odds with each other, were united against the “return of English”.

In 2009 the decision was made to revert the teaching of the two subjects to Bahasa Malaysia in national schools and mother tongue languages in national-type schools from 2012.

However, parents have been consistently arguing otherwise and even took to demonstrating to make the point that instruction in English is beneficial and that they should be heard and their needs satisfied.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, in a Facebook encounter with fans last week, was asked about PPSMI.

He responded by saying that a system, where some schools can teach the subjects in English while others teach in the mother tongue, was being studied.

While uniformity and national integration are the key elements of our education system, the world view has changed to seeing diversity and pluralism as key characteristics of an effective education system.

Parents know this more than anybody else and that’s why they have been pressing for an English alternative for those who want it – and there are many.