Huge blast at earthquake-damaged nuclear plant in Japan

Two plants now declared to be in state of emergency; evacuation zone widened

by Martin Dunphy on March 12th, 2011 at 1:36 AM

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There has been a large blast at a nuclear power plant damaged in the recent devastating earthquake that hit northeastern Japan on Friday.

Television pictures broadcast by NHK News appeared to show a blast shockwave emanating from a structure at the Fukushima 1 nuclear plant, followed by a rising cloud of smoke, dust, or steam. Walls of a containment structure appeared to have collapsed.

Robert Alvarez, a senior scholar with the Institute for Policy Studies, told CNN Saturday at 1:45 a.m. Pacific time: "This is a situation that has the possibility of a nuclear catastrophe."

Four workers were reported injured in the explosion at the complex about 240 kilometres north of Tokyo.

CNN later reported (at 2:05 a.m. PT) that the explosion "blew the roof off the reactor".

(Update: at 2:57 a.m. PT, the BBC World News reported that "the roof of the reactor building has fallen in," and that 200,000 people have now fled their homes in the evacuation area around the 40-year-old reactor. At 3:15 a.m. PT, the BBC stated that Japanese nuclear officials had said "it appears that the vessel containing the...fuel rods has not been breached" and that "serious damage is unlikely". The news agency interpreted this to mean that the blast was a steam explosion and not a core explosion. )

Earlier in the day, a 10-kilometre-radius evacuation was ordered by Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan after he had declared a state of emergency at the Fukushima 1 and 2 power plants.

CNN said at 2:15 a.m. PT that this zone had been widened to a 20-kilometre radius.

It was reported earlier by news agencies that pressure in at least one containment structure housing a reactor had been reduced by venting steam or air, resulting in a "small" release of radioactive material.

Radiation in the control room of the No.1 reactor was 1,000 times higher than normal.

Officials feared a meltdown in one or more of the two plants when cooling systems shut down after the magnitude 8.9 quake and radiation was detected outside the structures.

A fire in a turbine room at the Onagawa nuclear plant that started soon after the quake was successfully put out.

Japanese officials have said that there is no danger outside of the evacuation zone. However, BBC correspondent Nick Ravenscroft reported that his car was stopped by police at a roadblock 60 kilometres from the Fukushima plant. "Whatever may be happening at this nuclear facility, the impact is [now] much wider," he reported by phone.

Reportedly, thousands who had been told to leave their homes in a second round of evacuations near the plant were later told to stay inside.

Comments

17 Comments

hugh van lierop

Mar 12, 2011 at 2:31am

that explosion was the main reactor as for safety there is now a need to evacuate a thirty mile area all round this, if the main cooling stations fail and i cannot see how they are going to prevent this then this will be very very serious. god pray and help anyone within 100 miles of that area for the contamination will be catasrophic.

Rick

Mar 12, 2011 at 2:57am

Good lord, it's bad.

Niall Williams

Mar 12, 2011 at 3:39am

This is a very bad scenario, that has unfolded at these nuclear generating facilities. A high probability of more problems to occur, very soon.
Here is a link to the; Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency,(Japan)
http://www.nisa.meti.go.jp/english/index.html

Shepsil

Mar 12, 2011 at 9:08am

This disaster in Japan completely discredits those who would pretend that Nuclear Reactors can be built to withstand natural occurrences such as earthquakes and tsunamis.

seth

Mar 12, 2011 at 9:48am

"Japan’s Asahi Shimbum newspaper reported that radiation levels per hour in the area near the front entrance of the No. 1 Fukushima plant reached 0.59 micro Sievert,

Normal exposure rate is 0.23 microsieverts per hour in La Paz, Bolivia. 2 hours in La Paz is like one hour at the front gate this AM of Fukushima.

12 bananas produces about 1 microsievert of radiation

An enormous number of folks have been burned alive in the area by the Greenpeace's preferred transition power source - natural gas. Lots of deadly toll of toxic waste from the areas chemical plants now polluting the soil forever.

The explosion was a hydrogen leak that damaged the outside of the building. It has nothing to do with containment which is well under control.

This accident shows the many layers of nuclear safety work just as well as predicted, just like they did at 3 mile island where the reactor was damaged but nobody injured.

This reactor is a 1950's design slightly upgraded in the 60's. All Gen III+ nukes and all Candu's have passive coolant systems which would have avoided this problem.

The accident puts enormous shame on the Japanese people that the systemic corruption endemic in their culture would have allowed a well known corporate bandit to get away obvious uncorrected maintenance flaws that put the plant and the area in harms way. This sort of graft would result in summary execution in China. It is impossible in the US where the NRC would never allow a nuke on a tidal plain to have backup systems in harms way.
seth

Re: Hugh

Mar 12, 2011 at 12:37pm

The explosion was NOT the main reactor. At worst, that's a flat out lie, and at best you're misunderstanding nuclear technology. If the reactor had exploded, people hundreds of kilometers around would be dead right now.

The reactor's control rods all went in seconds after the quake and killed the nuclear fission process pronto. What's happening now is equivalent to turning off an oven, but heat still remaining. Normally, there's a cooling system that helps to cool down the oven (i.e. the reactor). The generators that run the cooling system got flooded by the tsunami and so they had to resort to venting gas rated at 5 rems. In addition, they're currently flooding primary containment as well.

Please realize that sensationalizing concepts that you're not familiar with is dangerous.

East Van Arts

Mar 12, 2011 at 1:11pm

I believe this latest accident proves that nuclear reactors are perfectly safe at all times, in all places, under all conditions -- including earthquakes.

If it were not so, their supporters would have admitted it by now. Chernobyl never happened.

Mark Fornataro

Mar 12, 2011 at 1:34pm

For anyone who mistakenly assumes the nuclear industry is safe I suggest you Google: Dr Helen Caldicott; Karen Silkwood and see the movie The China Syndrome.

Evil Eye

Mar 12, 2011 at 1:46pm

Please also remember that a hydro dam also broke during the earthquake, killing hundreds, if not thousands of people.

The fire and explosion of the nuclear plant is very bad, but contrast it with the rest of the destruction and death due to a 8.9 earthquake and tsunami, it isn't so bad.

According to sources 4 passenger trains are missing - gone and the estimated death toll is now well over 100,000!