Biggest Crisis Since WW-II: Japan PM. Toll May Cross 10,000

Mtoday News

# Exclusion zone widened to over 13 miles as radiation levels rise
# Reactor 3 has lost its cooling system
# Sea water being used to cool reactor
# 170,000 people evacuated from area near plant
# Up to 160 people so far exposed to radiation


Tokyo, Mar 13: Japan battled hard today to contain a looming nuclear crisis as it faced threats of multiple meltdowns at three reactors damaged by the devastating earthquake and tsunami amid fears that the toll may exceed 10,000 in the ravaged northeastern coast.

 

 

Alarm bells also rang in southwestern Japan where the 1,421-metre Shinmoedake volcano erupted today, shooting ash and rocks up into the sky but it was not immediately clear if it was a fallout of the massive earthquake.The toll is likely to cross 10,000, Kyodo news agency quoted the Miyagi police as saying.

In a televised statement, Prime Minister Naoto Kan said Japan is experiencing its biggest crisis since World War II as it tackled the aftermath of Friday’s massive earthquake with a magnitude of 9, the ferocious tsunami and the worrying nuclear crisis.

 

Smoke rising from the Fukushima Dai-ichi number one nuclear plant after a blast in Unit 1 on Friday


’At the risk of raising further public concern, we cannot rule out the possibility of an explosion,’ Edano said. ’If there is an explosion, however, there would be no significant impact on human health.’

More than 170,000 people had been evacuated as a precaution, though Edano said the radioactivity released into the environment so far was so small it didn’t pose any health threats.

 

 

A complete meltdown - the collapse of a power plant’s systems and its ability to keep temperatures under control - could release uranium and dangerous contaminants into the environment and pose major, widespread health risks.

 

Up to 160 people, including 60 elderly patients and medical staff who had been waiting for evacuation in the nearby town of Futabe, and 100 others evacuating by bus, might have been exposed to radiation, said Ryo Miyake, a spokesman from Japan’s nuclear agency.

Workers in protective clothing were scanning people arriving at evacuation centres for radioactive exposure. Three workers have so far been treated for radiation sickness after the explosion in the reactor building and locals have been offered iodine to help protect against radiation exposure.

Edano told reporters that a partial meltdown in Unit 3 of the Fukushima Dai-ichi power plant was ’highly possible’.