Prime Minister Naoto Kan appealed for international help and workers battled to prevent a nuclear meltdown after a second blast rocked an atomic plant north of Tokyo. Millions remained without electricity or water following Japan’s strongest earthquake, which may have killed 10,000.
The 8.9-magnitude temblor and subsequent tsunami on March 11 has led to what Kan called the country’s worst crisis since World War II. Stocks plunged and the Bank of Japan poured record funds into the economy.
No large release of radiation was detected after the nuclear-plant explosion, which didn’t breach Fukushima power station’s No. 3 reactor and followed a build-up of hydrogen gas, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano told reporters in Tokyo yesterday. The risk of a large leak is very small, he said.
“The situation at the Fukushima nuclear plant continues to be a concern,” Kan said at a meeting of the government’s crisis response team in Tokyo. “Everyone connected with this is working with all their might, without regard to day or night, to prevent further damage.”
Japan’s government asked the United Nations atomic agency to provide “expert missions” to help stabilize the nuclear reactors, International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Yukiya Amano said in a statement from Vienna.
The cooling system failed at Fukushima Dai-Ichi station’s No. 1 and No. 3 reactors after the earthquake, and it stopped working yesterday at the No. 2 reactor. Operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. said it cannot rule out that fuel rods are melting at the No. 2 reactor after they became exposed for a second time by a drop in water levels.
The 8.9-magnitude temblor and subsequent tsunami on March 11 has led to what Kan called the country’s worst crisis since World War II. Stocks plunged and the Bank of Japan poured record funds into the economy.
No large release of radiation was detected after the nuclear-plant explosion, which didn’t breach Fukushima power station’s No. 3 reactor and followed a build-up of hydrogen gas, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano told reporters in Tokyo yesterday. The risk of a large leak is very small, he said.
“The situation at the Fukushima nuclear plant continues to be a concern,” Kan said at a meeting of the government’s crisis response team in Tokyo. “Everyone connected with this is working with all their might, without regard to day or night, to prevent further damage.”
Japan’s government asked the United Nations atomic agency to provide “expert missions” to help stabilize the nuclear reactors, International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Yukiya Amano said in a statement from Vienna.
The cooling system failed at Fukushima Dai-Ichi station’s No. 1 and No. 3 reactors after the earthquake, and it stopped working yesterday at the No. 2 reactor. Operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. said it cannot rule out that fuel rods are melting at the No. 2 reactor after they became exposed for a second time by a drop in water levels.
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