| StylinRed | 03-11-2011 11:38 PM |
Quote:
Originally Posted by cococly
(Post 7339765)
One of their Nuclear powerplants just had a minor-explosion? O_O (I am watching CNN)
| Quote:
(CNN) -- An explosion has been reported near a nuclear plant in northeastern Japan's Fukushima prefecture, Japanese public broadcaster NHK said Saturday, citing the country's nuclear and industrial safety agency.
The Tokyo Electric Company said some workers on the ground were injured, NHK reported.
It was not immediately clear where the blast occurred in relation to the Fukushima Daiichi plant, or what caused it.
Earlier Saturday Japan's nuclear agency said workers were continuing efforts to cool fuel rods at the plant after a small amount of radioactive material escaped into the air.
The agency said there was a strong possibility that the small amount of radioactive cesium monitors detected was caused by the melting of a fuel rod at the plant, adding that engineers were continuing to cool the fuel rods by pumping water around them.
A spokesman for Japan's Nuclear and Industrial Agency earlier said atomic material had seeped out of one of the five nuclear reactors at the Daiichi plant, located about 160 miles (260 kilometers) north of Tokyo.
Authorities evacuated people living near the reactor after an earthquake and tsunami crippled cooling systems there, as well as at another of the Tokyo Electric Power Company's nuclear plants.
The evacuations notwithstanding, the nuclear safety agency asserted Saturday that the radiation at the plants did not pose an immediate threat to nearby residents' health, the Kyodo News Agency said.
The International Atomic Energy Agency said Friday on its website that the quake and tsunami knocked out a Daiichi reactor's off-site power source, which is used to cool down the radioactive material inside. Then, the tsunami waves disabled the backup source -- diesel generators -- and authorities were working to get these operating.
On Saturday Japanese nuclear authorities said the cooling system had also failed at three of the four reactors at the Fukushima Daini plant -- located in another town in northeaster Japan's Fukushima prefecture.
Janie Eudy told CNN that her 52-year-old husband, Joe, was working at the Daiichi plant and was injured by falling and shattering glass when the quake struck. As he and others were planning to evacuate, at their managers' orders, the tsunami waves struck and washed buildings from the nearby town past the plant.
"To me, it sounded like hell on earth," she said, adding her husband -- a native of Pineville, Louisiana -- ultimately escaped.
The power company reported Saturday that about 1 million households were without power, and that power shortages may occur due to damage at the company's facility.
"We kindly ask our customers to cooperate with us in reducing usage of power," the company said.
| http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/asiapc...japan.nuclear/ Quote:
An explosion was heard from a quake-hit Japanese nuclear plant and smoke was seen billowing from it today, as several workers were injured and radioactivity rose 20-fold outside, reports said.
| http://www.smh.com.au/environment/bl...312-1brv1.html Quote:
Explosion heard at Japan's Fukushima nuclear plant
By REUTERS
03/12/2011 10:35
News agency quotes says smoke also seen at Tokyo plant; authorities fear possible meltdown but say risk of radiation contamination small.
TOKYO - An explosion was heard and smoke was seen at Tokyo Electric Power Co 's Fukushima nuclear power plant, Jiji news agency quoted the police as saying on Saturday.
| http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/...72A0SS20110312 Quote:
Sat Mar 12, 2011 3:34am EST
(Updates with explosion)
* Explosion reported at nuclear plant
* Report that building's outer structure blown off
* Death toll seen rising
By Chris Meyers and Kim Kyung-hoon
FUKUSHIMA, Japan, March 12 (Reuters) - Japan scrambled on
Saturday to avert a disastrous meltdown at a nuclear plant
damaged when a massive earthquake and tsunami struck the
northeast coast, killing at least 1,300 people.
Jiji news agency said there had been an explosion at the
stricken 40-year-old Daichi 1 reactor and TV footage showed
vapour rising from the plant, which lies 240 km (150 miles)
north of Tokyo.
The country's nuclear safety agency could not confirm the
reported incident, which came as plant operator Tokyo Electric
Power Co (Tepco) worked desperately to reduce pressures
in the core of the reactor that -- if not contained -- could
lead to a release of radiation into the atmosphere.
"An unchecked rise in temperature could cause the core to
essentially turn into a molten mass that could burn through the
reactor vessel," political risk information service Stratfor
said in a report. "This may lead to a release of an unchecked
amount of radiation into the containment building that surrounds
the reactor."
NHK television said the outer structure of the building that
houses the reactor appeared to have blown off, which could
suggest the containment building had already been breached.
Earlier the operator released what it said was a tiny amount
of radioactive steam to reduce the pressure and the danger was
minimal because tens of thousands of people had already been
evacuated from the vicinity.
Media reports estimate at least 1,300 people may have been
killed by the 8.9 quake, the biggest since records began in
Japan 140 years ago, and the 10-metre tsunami that swept
ferociously inland after it struck.
Italy's National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology
said the earth's axis had shifted 25 cm as a result of the quake
and the U.S. Geological Survey said the main island of Japan had
actually shifted 2.4 metres.
Japanese officials and experts have been at pains to say
that while there would be radiation leaks, they would be very
small and have dismissed suggestions of a repeat of a
Chernobyl-type disaster.
| http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/...7EC07M20110312 |
