日本首相：核局势“很严峻”

日本首相菅直人说，遭受地震破坏的福岛核电站的核危机“非常严峻”。与此同时，技术人员继续拼命地努力阻止灾难的规模扩大。

菅直人星期五说，日本警方、消防部门和军方正“冒着生命危险”为这个核电站的高放射性燃料棒进行冷却，以阻止燃料棒过热并释放出更多的辐射。

消防人员正试图用高压水龙向建筑物喷射。此前，日本自卫队取消了用直升飞机洒水的任务，原因是飞机驾驶员有受到辐射的危险。

日本政府星期五将福岛核电站的危机严重程度从4级提升到5级。国际核安全事故规模共分7个等级。5级意味着这一事故将造成规模更大的后果，包括释放出一些很有可能大量向公众辐射的放射性材料。

工作人员正试图在核电站安装新的电缆，以恢复冷却系统的正常运作。上个星期的地震和海啸破坏了冷却系统。但是官员们说，受损的反应堆可能要到星期日才能开始有电力供应。

Japan's Prime Minister Naoto Kan says the nuclear crisis at the crippled Fukushima plant is "very grave," as technicians continued desperate efforts to prevent a wider catastrophe. 

Mr. Kan said on Friday the police, fire department and military were "putting their lives on the line" as they try to douse damaged reactor buildings at the Fukushima plant with water, to prevent fuel rods inside from overheating and throwing more radiation into the environment. 

Firefighters are using powerful hoses to try to spray the buildings, after the country's self-defense forces abandoned a mission to drop water by helicopter because of the radiation risk posed to the pilots. 

The Japanese government Friday raised the severity rating of its nuclear disaster from 4 to 5 on a 7-point international nuclear event scale. Level 5 signals an accident with wider consequences, including some release of radioactive material, with a high probability of significant public exposure. 

Workers are trying to install new power lines to the building to restore cooling systems which were knocked out during last week's earthquake and tsunami disasters. But officials say it may take until Sunday for the electricity to start flowing to the damaged reactors.