THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Japan is battling to avoid a nuclear disaster after an explosion at a power plant in the aftermath of the country’s biggest earthquake and a devastating tsunami.
The AFP agency reported that a blast was heard and white smoke seen billowing into the air at one of two power plants which the Japanese government had placed under a state of emergency. Several workers were reported to have been injured.
Prime minister Naoto Kan had warned that a radiation leak might occur at one of the reactors at the Daiichi facility at Fukushima, 150 miles north of Tokyo, after Friday's 8.9-magnitude quake.
The reports of an explosion followed aftershocks and came as a huge humanitarian operation got under way.
By Saturday morning at least 1,300 people were feared dead and international rescue teams began to arrive[.]
The reactor’s cooling system failed after the earthquake struck off the Pacific coast, triggering a 33ft tsunami. Pressure in the reactor was continuing to rise after repeated efforts to return power to the cooling systems failed. Radiation inside the plant soared to 1,000 times its normal level, officials said, triggering evacuation orders for residents.
Before the explosion workers had vented off steam in a bid to relieve pressure on the worst-hit reactor.
A second atomic plant in the earthquake-hit area was also experiencing reactor cooling problems. Workers were battling to cool and stabilise the cores of three reactors at the nearby Daini facility.
It was unclear to what extent the reactors’ external structures had been damaged, adding to uncertainty over the scale of any possible leak, and officials and scientists offered conflicting verdicts on the severity to public health. (+ video) >>> Gordon Rayner, Peter Foster, Martin Evans and Jacqui Goddard | Friday, March 11, 2011
