Quake-hit Japan nuclear plant faces fresh threat

Evacuees hold blankets as they stand in a line to enter a temporary shelter after radiation leaked from an earthquake-damaged Fukushima nuclear reactor, in Koriyama, northeastern Japan March 12, 2011. REUTERS/Jo Yong-Hak

SENDAI, Japan, (Reuters) – Thousands of people fled  the vicinity of an earthquake-crippled Japanese nuclear plant  after a radiation leak and authorities faced a fresh threat today with the failure of the cooling system in a second  reactor.
Operator TEPCO said it was preparing to vent some  steam to relieve pressure in the No.3 reactor at the plant 240  km (150 miles) north of Tokyo — which would release a small  amount of radiation — following an explosion and leak on  Saturday from the facility’s No. 1 reactor.
As strong aftershocks continued to shake Japan’s main  island, the desperate search for survivors from Friday massive  earthquake and tsunami pressed on and the death toll was xpected  to rise.

Evacuees hold blankets as they stand in a line to enter a temporary shelter after radiation leaked from an earthquake-damaged Fukushima nuclear reactor, in Koriyama, northeastern Japan March 12, 2011. REUTERS/Jo Yong-Hak
Evacuees hold blankets as they stand in a line to enter a temporary shelter after radiation leaked from an earthquake-damaged Fukushima nuclear reactor, in Koriyama, northeastern Japan March 12, 2011. REUTERS/Jo Yong-Hak

Thousands spent another freezing night huddled over heaters  in emergency shelters along the northeastern coast, a scene of  devastation after the 8.9 magnitude quake sent a 10-metre  (33-foot) wave surging through towns and cities.
Kyodo news agency said the number of dead or unaccounted   was expected to exceed 1,800. It also reported there had been no  contact with around 10,000 people in one small town, more than  half its population.
The government insisted radiation levels were low following  Saturday’s explosion, saying the blast had not affected the  reactor core container, and the International Atomic Energy  Agency (IAEA) said it had been told by Japan that levels “have  been observed to lessen in recent hours”.
But Japan’s nuclear safety agency said the number of people  exposed to radiation from the Fukushima Daiichi plant could  reach 160. Workers in protective clothing were scanning people  arriving at evacuation centres for radioactive exposure.
Intense efforts were underway to eliminate the threat of  widespread contamination.

Officials in protective gear check for signs of radiation on children who are from the evacuation area near the Fukushima Daini nuclear plant in Koriyama, March 13, 2011. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon
Officials in protective gear check for signs of radiation on children who are from the evacuation area near the Fukushima Daini nuclear plant in Koriyama, March 13, 2011. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon

They are working on relieving pressure and pumping in water  into the No. 3 reactor,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano  told a news briefing.
“This will result in some raiation leakage, although at a  level that won’t affect peoples’ health. It will help stabilise  the situation.”
Officials ordered the evacuation of a 20-km (12-mile) radius  zone around the plant and 10 km (6 miles) around another nuclear  facility close by. Around 140,000 people had left the area, the  IAEA said, while authorities prepared to distribute iodine to  protect people from radioactive exposure.
“There is radiation leaking out, and since the possibility  (of being exposed) is high, it’s quite scary,” said Masanori  Ono, 17, standing in line on Saturday to be scanned for  radiation at an evacuation centre in Fukushima prefecture.
In Europe, environmentalists seized upon the accident to  press demands for an end to the use of nuclear power.
Up to 60,000 protesters formed a 45-km (27-mile) human chain  in Germany to denounce Chancellor Angela Merkel’s policy of  extending the life of nuclear plants.
Merkel said plants in Germany were safe, though experts were  watching developments in Japan closely.
Helicopters from Japan’s Self-Defence Forces lifted 195  people from retirement homes and hospitals inside the exclusion  zone.

A damaged train is seen after an earthquake and tsunami in Matsushima City, Miyagi Prefecture March 12, 2011. REUTERS/Yomiuri
A damaged train is seen after an earthquake and tsunami in Matsushima City, Miyagi Prefecture March 12, 2011. REUTERS/Yomiuri

Before news of the problem with reactor No. 3, the nuclear  safety agency said the plant accident was less serious than both  the Three Mile Island accident in 1979 and the 1986 Chernobyl  nuclear disaster.
An official at the agency said it had rated the incident a 4  according to the International Nuclear and Radiological Event  Scale (INES). Three Mile Island was rated 5 while Chernobyl was  rated 7 on the 1 to 7 scale, the official said.

DEVASTATED COASTLINE
Along the northeast coast, rescue workers searched through  the rubble of destroyed buildings, cars and boats, looking for  survivors in hardest-hit areas such as the city of Sendai, 300  km (180 miles) northeast of Tokyo.
Aerial footage showed buildings, trains and even light  aircraft strewn like children’s toys after powerful walls of  seawater swamped areas around Sendai.
In Iwanuma, not far from Sendai, nurses and doctors were  rescued on Saturday after spelling S.O.S. on the rooftop of a  partially submerged hospital, one of many desperate scenes. In  cities and towns, worried relatives checked information boards  on survivors at evacuation centres.
Dazed residents hoarded water and huddled in makeshift  shelters in near-freezing temperatures.
“All the shops are closed, this is one of the few still  open. I came to buy and stock up on diapers, drinking water and  food,” Kunio Iwatsuki, 68, told Reuters in Mito city, where  residents queued outside a damaged supermarket for supplies.
Japan’s Kyodo news agency said about 300,000 people were  evacuated nationwide, many seeking refuge in shelters, wrapped  in blankets, some clutching each other sobbing.
It said 5.5 million people were without power, while 3,400  buildings had been destroyed or damaged. Four trains were  unaccounted for after the tsunami.
In Tokyo, the usually bustling central districts were  deserted on Saturday night, and the few in bars and restaurants  were glued to television coverage of the disaster.
“Even in the bar we kept staring at the news,”  said Kasumi, a 26-year-old woman meeting a friend for a drink in  the central district of Akasaka. “I looked at the tsunami  swallowing houses and it seemed like a film.”

NO REPEAT OF CHERNOBYL – EXPERTS

A factory facility burns following an earthquake and tsunami in Sendai, northeastern Japan March 12, 2011. REUTERS/Kyodo
A factory facility burns following an earthquake and tsunami in Sendai, northeastern Japan March 12, 2011. REUTERS/Kyodo

A blast at the nuclear plant raised fears of a meltdown at  the power facility.
Experts had earlier said Japan should not expect a repeat of  Chernobyl. They said pictures of mist above the plant suggested  only small amounts of radiation had been expelled as part of  measures to ensure its stability, far from the radioactive  clouds Chernobyl spewed out 25 years ago.
Plant operator TEPCO has had a rocky past in an industry  plagued by scandal. In 2002, the president of the country’s  largest power utility was forced to resign along with four other  senior executives, taking responsibility for suspected  falsification of nuclear plant safety records.
Many Japanese flooded social networking sites with worries  about the plant.
“I can’t trust TEPCO,” said a person with the handlename  Tanuki Atsushi on mixi, the Japanese social networking site.
The earthquake and tsunami, and now the radiation leak,  present Japan’s government with its biggest challenge in a  generation.
The disaster struck as the world’s third-largest economy had  been showing signs of reviving from an economic contraction in  the final quarter of last year. It raised the prospect of major  disruptions for many key businesses and a massive repair bill  running into tens of billions of dollars.
Foreign countries have started to send disaster relief teams  to help Japan, with the United Nations sending a group to help  coordinate work.
The earthquake was the fifth most powerful to hit the world  in the past century. It surpassed the Great Kant quake of Sept.  1, 1923, which had a magnitude of 7.9 and killed more than  140,000 people in the Tokyo area.