US Sends Rescue Teams, Nuclear Experts to Japan

The United States was sending two rescue teams and a pair of nuclear energy experts to Japan to aid in recovery efforts Sunday.The search teams from Fairfax, Virginia and Los Angeles included more than 140 personnel, sniffer dogs and equipment to help with rescue work along Japan's tsunami-hit north-east coast.
They were expected to arrive Sunday at a military airport in Misawa, north of the Sendai region that was hardest hit by Friday's 8.9 offshore earthquake and subsequent 10-metre tsunami. The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission was deploying two experts in boiling water nuclear reactors as Japanese engineers struggled to prevent a meltdown at a damaged nuclear power plant.
'We have some of the most expert people in this field in the world working for the NRC and we stand ready to assist in any way possible,' chairman Gregory Jaczko was quoted as saying by DPA.
Both teams were part of the US Agency for International Development's aid to Japan. The agency also deployed its Disaster Assistance Response Team.