WASHINGTON, March 13 (Xinhua) -- The White House on Sunday said the United States has sent experts in nuclear reactors to Japan, where two nuclear reactors have been damaged in a massive earthquake, and are facing meltdown.
In a statement, the White House said a Disaster Assistance Response Team has been sent to Tokyo. The team includes people with nuclear expertise from the Departments of Energy and Health and Human Services as well the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). The NRC members are experts in boiling water nuclear reactors and are available to assist their Japanese counterparts.
Officials from the Department of Energy, NRC, and other agencies have maintained contact with Japanese officials and will provide whatever assistance the Japanese government requests as they work to stabilize their damaged nuclear reactors, said the statement.
The NRC has released information stating that Hawaii, Alaska, the U.S. Territories and the U.S. West Coast are not expected to experience any harmful levels of radioactivity. The United States and Japan both have highly advanced capabilities for monitoring and predicting the path of any radioactive release, according to U.S. media reports.
In addition to nuclear experts, two Urban Search and Rescue Teams from Los Angeles County, California, and Fairfax County, Virginia, which total 144 members plus 12 search and rescue canines and up to 45 metric tons of rescue equipment, are also on the ground in Misawa, Japan and will begin searching at first light on Monday.
The U.S. efforts are coordinated by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). The agency set up a Response Management Team in Washington, D.C., according to the White House.
