A host of countries have offered their expertise and technology to Japan to assist the continuing struggle to contain the Fukushima nuclear crisis, which has raised concerns over the safety of nuclear power.
The emergency at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant has become a major international news story and a hot topic for public debate around the world.
Speaking Tuesday at a session of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, Peter Lyons, an acting assistant energy secretary in charge of nuclear power, said the United States was sending remote-controlled "radiation-hardened robotics" to Japan to help resolve the crisis at the Fukushima complex.
A robotic device that can withstand extremely high levels of radioactivity has been shipped to Japan from the Energy Department's Idaho National Laboratory, along with several cameras to take photographs inside the nuclear power plant, according to an Associated Press report.
Lyons said the Energy Department will also send about 40 employees and 7 metric tons of equipment necessary to carry out the work.
In response to a request from the Japanese government, the U.S. Air Force has sent one of its WC-135 Constant Phoenix jets, which is equipped with sensors that can detect radioactive substances in the air. WC-135 jets were also dispatched to this region in 2006 and 2009 to check for nuclear tests by North Korea.
France, which relies heavily on nuclear energy for its electricity supply, have also pledged its support. President Nicolas Sarkozy was scheduled to visit Japan on Thursday and meet with Prime Minister Naoto Kan. Sarkozy is expected to pledge full cooperation for Japan's efforts to deal with the situation at the Fukushima complex.
French Industry Minister Eric Besson said Monday that the operator of the Fukushima plant, Tokyo Electric Power Co., has asked France to find experts in the disposal of radiation-contaminated water.
TEPCO has sought help from French nuclear power giants that have supplied mixed oxide fuel consisting of plutonium and uranium for the Fukushima plant, such as Areva SA and Electricite de France (EDF).
Areva Chief Executive Anne Lauvergeon arrived in Japan on Wednesday, and five French experts have also traveled to the country to aid efforts to bring the plant under control.
China is also extending a hand. Sany Group Co., a major construction machine maker based in Changsha, Hunan province, has offered to TEPCO a 62-meter truck-mounted concrete pump, which is used to build skyscrapers. The vehicle, which arrived in Fukushima Prefecture on Monday, will pump water to cool one of the reactors.
The International Atomic Energy Agency, the international nuclear watchdog, has sent seven radiation measurement experts.
Meanwhile, the South Korean government is considering including safety management at nuclear power plants as a topic at the second Nuclear Security Summit, to be held in 2012 in Seoul.
Some attendees at a March meeting of the government's preparatory committee for the summit pointed out that the accident at the Fukushima plant had provoked global concerns about the safety of nuclear power facilities.
The Kan administration intends to work closely with the United States, a leading nuclear power and important ally of Japan, in tackling the crisis.
Referring to the tsunami-stricken Fukushima plant, U.S. President Barack Obama recently said, "We have a responsibility to learn from this event."
On Wednesday, Kan and Obama reconfirmed their commitment to close cooperation in a telephone conversation.
On March 22, Tokyo and Washington launched a joint committee to deal with the Fukushima accident comprising senior government officials, nuclear energy experts and military personnel.
On the Japanese side, the Cabinet Secretariat's Office for National Security Affairs and Crisis Management is responsible for the panel's operations. Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Tetsuro Fukuyama and Goshi Hosono, an adviser to the prime minister, are serving as supervisors for the Japanese team, which also includes TEPCO officials.
The U.S. team comprises officials from the Pentagon, the Energy Department and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission as well as military officers.
Three project teams have been set up under the committee. They are respectively responsible for working out ways to cool the reactors and prevent the spread of leaking radioactive materials, devising schemes for final disposal of nuclear fuel rods and spent fuel and developing plans for scrapping the reactors.