U.S. to fly unmmanned spy plane over crippled nuclear plant for closer look

Thursday, March 17, 2011   Kyodo News

Photographs taken by the plane equipped with infrared sensors could provide a useful clue to what is occurring inside the reactor buildings, around which high-level radiation has been detected.

The planned mission comes as the Japanese government appears unable to contain the crisis days after the coastal nuclear plant was struck by a magnitude 9.0 earthquake and tsunami.

It would represent a deepening of Japanese-U.S. cooperation in coping with the escalating crisis, with the U.S. military having already provided logistical transportation, and search and rescue efforts in the wake of the disaster that hit northeastern Japan.

In Washington on Wednesday, a Pentagon official said U.S. forces in Japan are in principle not allowed within a 90 kilometer radius of the plant.

There has been no damage to the health of U.S. soldiers as a result of exposure to radiation from the plant, the official said.