Chain Reaction: Third Explosion at Fukushima Nuclear Plant

BBC News
Tuesday, March 15, 2011

RELATED: Cover Up Of Fukushima Chain Reaction Underway 

A quake-stricken nuclear plant in Japan has been hit by a third explosion in four days, amid fears of a meltdown.

The blast occurred at reactor 2 at the Fukushima Daiichi plant, which engineers had been trying to stabilise after two other reactors exploded.

One minister has said it is “highly likely” that the rods might melt. Radiation levels near the plant have risen.

The crisis was sparked by a 9.0-magnitude quake and tsunami on Friday.

Full story here.

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AFP: Higher radiation recorded north of Tokyo: Kyodo

Higher radiation levels were recorded Tuesday in a region north of the Japanese capital Tokyo after a blast at a earthquake-hit nuclear power plant, Kyodo News reported.

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Emergency Cooling Effort Failing at Japanese Reactor, Deepening Crisis

HIROKO TABUCHI, KEITH BRADSHER and MATT WALD
NYT News Service
Tuesday, March 15, 2011

TOKYO: Japan’s struggle to contain the crisis at a stricken nuclear power plant worsened sharply early on Tuesday morning, as emergency operations to pump seawater into one crippled reactor failed at least temporarily, increasing the risk of an uncontrolled release of radioactive material, officials said.

With the cooling systems malfunctioning simultaneously at three separate reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station after the powerful earthquake and tsunami, the acute crisis developed late Monday at reactor No. 2 of the plant, where a series of problems thwarted efforts to keep the core of the reactor covered with water — a step considered crucial to preventing the reactor’s containment vessel from exploding and preventing the fuel inside it from melting down.

The plant’s operator, Tokyo Electric Power, said late Monday that repeated efforts to inject seawater into the reactor had failed, causing water levels inside the reactor’s containment vessel to fall and exposing its fuel rods. After what at first appeared to be a successful bid to refill the vessel, water levels again dwindled, this time to critical levels, exposing the rods almost completely, company executives said.

Workers were having difficulty injecting seawater into the reactor because its vents — necessary to release pressure in the containment vessel by allowing radioactive steam to escape — had stopped working properly, they said.

Full story here.