FUKUSHIMA REACTOR MELTDOWN IN JAPAN WINDOWS

I'm afraid now to drink the water from the mountains in case it is contaminated.' 'When I turned it on, I heard about the radiation. But the Red Cross provided her with a radio in an emergency kit it distributed to all the refugees. Since Friday she had been cut off from television, the internet, and mobile phone networks. According to the deputy mayor, Etsuro Kitamura, 40,000 refugees in evacuation centres are having to live on just one rice ball a day.įor Hiroko Kodo, news of the explosion was a rude return to the world of mass communication. Water, food and fuel are in short supply in Ishinomaki, one of the cities worst hit. Survivors also face growing fears of widespread contamination. The announcement came as another powerful aftershock of magnitude 6.2 was recorded near Shizuoka, south-west of Tokyo. If you are being evacuated, cover yourself as much as possible and wear a facemask.

FUKUSHIMA REACTOR MELTDOWN IN JAPAN WINDOWS

'For those in the evacuation area, close your windows and doors. Emergency broadcasts on NHK underlined the danger that was unfolding at Fukushima. The news was a fresh blow for a region already reeling from the impact of Friday's magnitude 8.9 earthquake and devastating tsunami.Īt midday Tuesday, Japan's national police agency said 2,475 people were confirmed dead and 3,611 were missing, while NHK television reported 3,000 dead with 15,000 unaccounted for.

Experts backed their assessment that health risks beyond that area were minimal at present. The government ordered any inhabitants remaining within the 12-mile (20km) exclusion zone to leave immediately, and told those between 12 and 19 miles away to stay indoors, while imposing a 19-mile no-fly zone. Yukiya Amano, director general of the IAEA, told a press conference there was a 'possibility of core damage' at No 2 reactor, adding: 'The damage is estimated to be less than 5%.' The risk appears highest at reactor No 2, where fuel rods were repeatedly exposed on Monday before Tuesday's explosion damaged the pressure vessel around the reactor. But levels had lowered dramatically by the end of the day, according to the International Atomic Energy Authority (IAEA).Īccording to experts, engineers are now locked in a desperate fight to prevent all three reactors overheating. Radiation levels at one location at the site reached 400 millisieverts (mSv) an hour after the fire – four times the level that can lead to cancer – Yukio Edano, the chief cabinet secretary, said. If the water boils off there is a risk that the fuel could catch fire, sending a plume of radiation directly into the atmosphere. The fire on Tuesday was extinguished, but Kyodo reported that the pool was subsequently boiling, with the water level falling. Reactor No 4 was shut down for maintenance before the earthquake, but its spent fuel rods are stored in a pool at the site.

There are now concerns about the storage ponds at reactors 5 and 6. That was followed by a fire that broke out at the No 4 reactor unit, which appeared to be the cause of today's radiation leaks. The rods are still radioactive and potentially as hot and dangerous as the fuel rods inside the reactors if not kept in water.Įarly on Tuesday, the power plant in the country's stricken north-east was rocked by an explosion at the No 2 reactor, the third blast at the site in four days. Officials are now concerned about all six reactors at the site, and are considering using helicopters to try to drop cold water on a boiling rooftop storage pond for spent uranium fuel rods. The government has already called in international help in tackling the spiralling crisis.

Fukushima reactor meltdown in japan