Second Nuclear Plant Explosion Feared in Japan

Fukushima is one of the oldest operating nuclear plants in Japan, turning 40 years old on March 26. Photo by EPA/BGNES

There is a risk of a second explosion at the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant, NPP, Japanese officials warn Sunday.

The Chief Cabinet Secretary, Yukio Edano, however, assuaged fears, saying the facility could withstand the impact and the nuclear reactor would not be damaged.

Japanese technical experts are staging a huge effort to cool reactor 3 with seawater, following a blast at the building housing reactor 1 on Saturday.

The plant's operators, Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO), issued an alert that radiation levels around the plant had now risen above permissible limits.

About 170 000 people have been evacuated from the area near the plant. The Japanese government doubled the size of the evacuation zone around Fukushima to 20km (12.4 miles).

BBC's Tokyo correspondent, Chris Hogg, reports that a meltdown at reactor 3 would be potentially more serious than at the other reactors, because it is fuelled by plutonium and uranium, unlike the other units which carry only uranium.

Experts say as long as authorities can keep fuel rods in the core covered with water, they should be able to avoid a major disaster, but one report suggested the tops of the rods had briefly been exposed, according to BBC.

Technicians opened valves at reactor 3, allowing small amounts of radioactive vapor to escape in a bid to reduce the pressure in the unit. They performed a similar operation on the first reactor, hours before the explosion.

Meanwhile, police warn the death toll in tsunami-hit Miyagi prefecture alone could exceed 10 000. Earlier official reports listed 2 000 people as dead or missing following Friday's earthquake and tsunami.

Millions remain without electricity and authorities announce that the number of troops helping with rescue work in the region would be doubled to 100 000.

Meanwhile, the Japanese Seizmological Agency upgraded the earthquake to 9 points magnitude on the Richter scale from the previously reported 8.9.

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