Tokyo: Radiation released by the damaged reactors at Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant has been high enough to threat human health, said the Japanese government on Tuesday.
An explosion was heard early Tuesday morning at the No. 2 reactor of the crippled plant and a fire has just been reported at the No. 4 reactor, causing more radiation near the complex.
Japan’s prime minister Prime Minister Naoto Kan warned that further leaks are possible and told people living within a radius of 30 kilometers of the troubled plant to stay indoors.
He said that radioactive levels had become high around an earthquake-stricken nuclear power plant after an explosion there, and there was a risk of radiation leaking into the atmosphere.
Naoto Kan urged people within 30 km of the facility north of Tokyo to remain indoors and the French embassy in the capital warned in an advisory that a low level of radioactive wind could reach Tokyo within 10 hours.
Tuesday’s explosion was the third at the plant since it was damaged in last Friday’s massive earthquake and tsunami.
Authorities have been trying to prevent meltdowns in all three of the Fukishima Daiichi complex’s nuclear reactors by flooding the chambers with sea water to cool them down.
“It’s a scene from hell, absolutely nightmarish,” said Patrick Fuller of the International Red Cross Federation from the northeastern coastal town of Otsuchi.
The US Geological Survey upgraded the quake to magnitude 9.0, from 8.9, making it the world’s fourth most powerful since 1900.
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