Tokyo:A second nuclear reactor in Japan’s earth-quake hit Fukushima nuclear power plant has lost its emergency cooling system, a similar position that led to a blast at reactor 1 at the plant on Saturday.
Media reports say that nuclear experts were trying to lower the pressure of the reactor, adding that about 170,000 people have been evacuated from the area near the plant.
Japan’s top government spokesman Yukio Edano said Sunday that radioactive meltdowns may have occurred in two reactors of the quake-hit Fukushima nuclear plant.
Asked in a press conference whether meltdowns had occurred, Edano said “we are acting on the assumption that there is a high possibility that one has occurred” in the plant’s number-one reactor.
“As for the number-three reactor, we are acting on the assumption that it is possible,” he said.
He added “that radiation at the nuclear power plant in Fukushima briefly rose above legal limits, but it has since declined significantly.”
Three reactors at the plant lost their cooling functions in the aftermath of quake and tsunami because of a power outage.
Some 170,000 people have been ordered to evacuate the area within 12 miles (20 kilometers) of the plant.
The plant is 170 miles (270 kilometers) north of Tokyo.
The reports noted that US government has also sent its nuclear experts to Japan to help the Japanese technicians those who are battling to contain the situation.
Hundreds died on Friday as a quake and tsunami hit the north-east of Japan.
The authorities are stepping up relief efforts as the scale of the tragedy becomes clear.
Officials announced that the number of troops helping with rescue work in the region would be doubled to 100,000.
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