.- The cooling system failed on a second nuclear reactor located in the devastated coast of Japan a few hours after an explosion at a nearby plant, where a radiation leak, or a possible nuclear fusion is seen as the main threat to country after the catastrophic earthquake that struck on Friday tusnami Japan.
The Japanese government indicated that the radiation emanating from the plant seems to have diminished after Saturday's blast, which produced a cloud of white smoke that hid all buildings. However, the danger was serious enough and that led authorities to pump sea water into the reactor to prevent a disaster.
Also proceeded to evacuate 170 000 people in the area. The Agency for Nuclear and Industrial Safety reported an emergency at another reactor unit, it is the third in the plant has problems in its cooling system. To try to reduce the pressure of the reactor overheated, authorities released a vapor that may contain small amounts of radiation, the government said.
Japan struggled with the threat of the reactors at a time when attempts to determine the extent of the damage the earthquake, the strongest since records began taking them in the country, and the tsunami that hit the northeast of the archipelago tremendous speed and power. In large parts of northern authorities were searching for thousands of missing.
The number of confirmed deaths from the quake and tsunami on Friday was 686, authorities said could exceed one. The devastation was spread over hundreds of miles of coastline, and rescuers were searching for survivors while thousands of starving victims were in emergency centers without electricity or communication with rescuers.
At least a million homes have no water service since the quake struck. Large areas of the country are also flooded by the tsunami and were isolated. The amount of destruction is not known to the authorities, but there were indications that the death toll could soar. One report said four trains went missing on Friday and still not be located.
Others pointed out that 9 000 500 people in a coastal village have not been accounted for and that at least 200 bodies have emerged in other parts of the coast. "Our calculations based only on reported cases suggest that a thousand people have died in the disaster" said Chief Cabinet Yukio Edan.
"Unfortunately, the real damage could far exceed that figure considering the difficulties in assessing the full totality of the damage." The government reported that 642 people are missing and 1.426 wounded. The explosion at the nuclear plant Dai-ichi Fukushima, 274 kilometers from Tokyo, seemed to be the result of measures taken to prevent a nuclear meltdown after the earthquake and tsunami left without electricity for the plant, which broke the system to cool their rolls.
The explosion destroyed part of the building where the reactor is located, but no stainless steel casing of 15 cm thick that surrounds it. Within that box overheated steel, began pumping water on the rollers to cool the nuclear fuel and that generated hydrogen. When workers at the plant released some of that hydrogen gas to relieve pressure inside the reactor, hydrogen appears to react when in contact with oxygen, either in air or in water used to cool rollers and that generated the explosion.
"They work desperately to find a solution in the cooling of the central part," said Mark Hibbs, a senior official of the Nuclear Policy Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Agency officials also indicated that Japanese nuclear power was injecting seawater at the center of the reactor, a sign, Hibbs said "how serious is the problem and how Japan had to go to unusual and improvised solutions to cool the reactor core.
" Edan said the radiation was reduced near the plant after the explosion, but gave no reason. Meanwhile, the International Atomic Energy Agency had reported that 170 000 people were evacuated from the area near the plant Fukushima Dai-ichi. The agency, based in Vienna, said people were ordered to withdraw from a radius of 20 kilometers (12 miles) around the plant.
The increase in radiation can increase the risk of cancer and authorities planned to distribute iodine to protect people from thyroid cancer. Prime Minister Naoto Kan said that 50 thousand soldiers will be included in the rescue and recovery. At least 215 000 people receiving care in 350 thousand temporary shelters in five prefectures, according to the national police agency.
More than 125 aftershocks have occurred since the main quake, and many with a magnitude greater than 6.0. The quake on Friday was considered the fifth strongest in the world since 1900. On the overall level of damage, the global investment bank Jefferies International Limited estimated that total losses would approach 10 billion dollars. 
The Japanese government indicated that the radiation emanating from the plant seems to have diminished after Saturday's blast, which produced a cloud of white smoke that hid all buildings. However, the danger was serious enough and that led authorities to pump sea water into the reactor to prevent a disaster.
Also proceeded to evacuate 170 000 people in the area. The Agency for Nuclear and Industrial Safety reported an emergency at another reactor unit, it is the third in the plant has problems in its cooling system. To try to reduce the pressure of the reactor overheated, authorities released a vapor that may contain small amounts of radiation, the government said.
Japan struggled with the threat of the reactors at a time when attempts to determine the extent of the damage the earthquake, the strongest since records began taking them in the country, and the tsunami that hit the northeast of the archipelago tremendous speed and power. In large parts of northern authorities were searching for thousands of missing.
The number of confirmed deaths from the quake and tsunami on Friday was 686, authorities said could exceed one. The devastation was spread over hundreds of miles of coastline, and rescuers were searching for survivors while thousands of starving victims were in emergency centers without electricity or communication with rescuers.
At least a million homes have no water service since the quake struck. Large areas of the country are also flooded by the tsunami and were isolated. The amount of destruction is not known to the authorities, but there were indications that the death toll could soar. One report said four trains went missing on Friday and still not be located.
Others pointed out that 9 000 500 people in a coastal village have not been accounted for and that at least 200 bodies have emerged in other parts of the coast. "Our calculations based only on reported cases suggest that a thousand people have died in the disaster" said Chief Cabinet Yukio Edan.
"Unfortunately, the real damage could far exceed that figure considering the difficulties in assessing the full totality of the damage." The government reported that 642 people are missing and 1.426 wounded. The explosion at the nuclear plant Dai-ichi Fukushima, 274 kilometers from Tokyo, seemed to be the result of measures taken to prevent a nuclear meltdown after the earthquake and tsunami left without electricity for the plant, which broke the system to cool their rolls.
The explosion destroyed part of the building where the reactor is located, but no stainless steel casing of 15 cm thick that surrounds it. Within that box overheated steel, began pumping water on the rollers to cool the nuclear fuel and that generated hydrogen. When workers at the plant released some of that hydrogen gas to relieve pressure inside the reactor, hydrogen appears to react when in contact with oxygen, either in air or in water used to cool rollers and that generated the explosion.
"They work desperately to find a solution in the cooling of the central part," said Mark Hibbs, a senior official of the Nuclear Policy Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Agency officials also indicated that Japanese nuclear power was injecting seawater at the center of the reactor, a sign, Hibbs said "how serious is the problem and how Japan had to go to unusual and improvised solutions to cool the reactor core.
" Edan said the radiation was reduced near the plant after the explosion, but gave no reason. Meanwhile, the International Atomic Energy Agency had reported that 170 000 people were evacuated from the area near the plant Fukushima Dai-ichi. The agency, based in Vienna, said people were ordered to withdraw from a radius of 20 kilometers (12 miles) around the plant.
The increase in radiation can increase the risk of cancer and authorities planned to distribute iodine to protect people from thyroid cancer. Prime Minister Naoto Kan said that 50 thousand soldiers will be included in the rescue and recovery. At least 215 000 people receiving care in 350 thousand temporary shelters in five prefectures, according to the national police agency.
More than 125 aftershocks have occurred since the main quake, and many with a magnitude greater than 6.0. The quake on Friday was considered the fifth strongest in the world since 1900. On the overall level of damage, the global investment bank Jefferies International Limited estimated that total losses would approach 10 billion dollars.
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