japan nuclear project unsafe

Hiroshima to Fukushima
Post-Quake Japan On Verge Of
Nuclear Catastrophe
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA
Fukushima/Tokyo, Mar 15: Japan's
nuclear crisis assumed dangerous
dimensions Tuesday as two more
blasts rocked the quake-crippled
Fukushima plant spewing large
amounts of radioactive material
which may float towards Tokyo,
with Premier Naoto Kan warning
that there was a "very high risk" of
further leakage.
The hydrogen explosions at No.2 and
No.4 reactors at the Fukushima
Daiichi plant this morning prompted
the government to announce that
the radiation had reached harmful
levels. A fire was also reported
around 9:40 am local time at the
No.4 reactor, where spent nuclear
fuels were stored, but it was
extinguished later, according to
Tokyo Electric Power Company
(TEPCO), the plant's operator.
The blast at No.2 reactor at 6:10 am
appeared to have damaged one of
its containment systems for the first
time, triggering fears about more
serious radioactive leaks.
TEPCO said the problem could
develop into a critical "meltdown"
situation after part of the No.2
reactor's container vessel damaged
following the explosion, Kyodo
reported.
A worried Prime Minister Kan, in his
address to the nation, warned that
the radiation had already spread
from the crippled reactors and there
was "a very high risk of further
leakage". He asked an estimated
140,000 people living within 30 kms
of the facility north of capital to
remain indoors and conserve power
as threat loomed large of Japan's
crisis turning into a Chernobyl-like
disaster.
There were fears that the effects of
the explosions and fire at the nuclear
reactors could spread to Tokyo,
home to 12 million people, as the
metropolitan authorities said they
had detected a small amount of
radioactive material such as iodine
and cesium in the air of the city.
The wind was blowing from north to
south when the explosions occurred
at the Fukushima plant.
Japan faced its worst ever nuclear
catastrophe during the final stages
of World War II in 1945, when the
United States conducted two atomic
bombings against the cities of
Hiroshima and Nagasaki. These two
events are the only active
deployments of nuclear weapons in
war to date.
The bombings killed around 2.50
lakh people on the first day with
disastrous after-effects.
Meanwhile, the French embassy in
the capital city Tokyo issued an
advisory Tuesday warning that low-
level radioactive winds could hit
Tokyo from the plant located 240
kms away in about 10 hours.
Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio
Edano said the high radiation level
detected at 10:22 am after the
explosions at the No.2 and No.4
reactors would "certainly have
negative effects on the human
body."
Kyodo, quoting nuclear experts, said
radiation equivalent to 400 times the
level to which people can be
exposed in one year was detected
near the Fukushima's No.3 reactor,
where an explosion had occurred
yesterday.
Residents within a 20-km radius of
the plant had already been ordered
to vacate the area following
Saturday's hydrogen blast at the
plant's No 1 reactor.
All the four plants at Fukushima are
reported to be in critical stage as the
core of the No 1, 2 and 3 reactors are
believed to have partially melted
following Friday's 9 magnitude
earthquake and giant tsunami
waves that have killed an estimated
10,000 people.
Over 2,000 bodies were found
yesterday on two shores in Miyagi
Prefecture, the worst hit by the
earthquake and Tsunami, as Japan
continued to struggle to grasp the
full extent of the disaster.
About 1,000 bodies were washed
ashore on the hardest-hit Miyagi's
Ojika Peninsula while another 1,000
were spotted in the town of
Minamisanriku where the prefectural
government has been unable to
contact about 10,000 people, or over
half the local population.