While rescue efforts were underway, an atomic reactor exploded raising fears of another Chernobyl-like disaster. A second earthquake hit the country
While rescue efforts were underway, an atomic reactor exploded raising fears of another Chernobyl-like disaster. A second earthquake hit the country
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A man watches TV footage of Japan's Fukushima atomic plant spewing
fumes. The death toll from the quake is expected to cross 1,300, and is
reported to have moved Japan's coast by 8 feet, and shifted the Earth's
axis by about 10 cms. PIC/AFP PHOTO
At the time of going to print, Japan was mobilising a nationwide rescue effort to pluck survivors from collapsed buildings and rush food and water to thousands in an earthquake and tsunami zone under siege, without water, electricity, heat or telephone service.
Government officials were quoted by the Japanese media as saying they expected the death toll to range between 1,300 to 1,700; most of them drowned. As many as 10,000 people were reported missing in just the port town of Minamisanriku. Friday's earthquake is reported to have moved the island of Japan by eight feet, and shifted the Earth's axis by about 10 cms.
In what could be the worst nuclear disaster since the Chernobyl explosion in 1986, Japanese television showed a cloud of smoke billowing up from a reactor at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station. Officials initially said an evacuation radius of 6 miles from the plant was adequate, but within an hour, the boundary was extended to 13 miles. Thousands living in the vicinity also underwent radioactive screening and three were found to be 'radiation sick'.
Government officials said the explosion, caused by a build-up of pressure in the reactor after the cooling system failed, destroyed the concrete structure surrounding the reactor but did not collapse the critical steel container inside. They said that raised the chances that they could prevent the release of large amounts of radioactive material and could avoid a core meltdown at the plant.
Tokyo Electric Power, which operates the plant, which is located 160 miles north of Tokyo, now plans to fill the reactor with seawater to cool it down and reduce pressure. The process would take five to 10 hours, said company officials.
The vulnerability of nuclear plants to earthquakes was also underscored by ongoing problems at the cooling system of reactors at a second nearby plant, known as Daini, which prompted a smaller evacuation from surrounding communities.
Tokyo Electric Power said the explosion happened "near" the No. 1 reactor at Daiichi. Both the Daiichi and Daini plants were shut down during Friday's earthquake. But the loss of power in the area and damage to the plant's generators from the subsequent tsunami crippled the cooling systems, which need to function after a shut down to cool down nuclear fuel rods.
Japan relies heavily on nuclear power, which generates just over one-third of the country's electricity.
Can disaster be averted?
Plans are afoot to fill the nuclear reactor with seawater to cool it down and reduce pressure. Normally, after a shut down, the cooling systems are used to cool nuclear fuel rods, but the loss of power in the area and damage to the plant's generators has crippled any such efforts.
Firm has a dodgy past
IN 2002, the president of Tokyo Electric Power, which operates the plant, was forced to resign. The company was held responsible for falsification of nuclear plant safety records.
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