Reactor meltdown feared / Quake disabled Fukushima N-plants' cooling systems

The Economy, Trade and Industry Ministry's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency said Saturday afternoon that a nuclear meltdown was suspected at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant's No. 1 reactor.

An explosion was heard from the No. 1 plant at about 3:36 p.m. and white smoke was witnessed about 10 minutes later, Tokyo Electric Power Co officials said, adding that four workers were injured. However, the cause of the blast remained unknown.

TV footage showed that the No. 1 reactor appeared to have been destroyed, with its outer walls seemingly collapsed.

The devastating quake measuring magnitude 8.8 that hit eastern Japan on Friday afternoon disabled the Fukushima No. 1 and No. 2 nuclear power plants' reactor-cooling systems, according to officials.

The level of cooling water in the No. 1 nuclear reactor began dropping after the Friday quake, according to TEPCO.

Agency officials said a team of National Institute of Radiological Sciences detected cesium, a radioactive substance contained in nuclear fuel rods, near the No. 1 reactor of the No. 1 nuclear plant, leading them to suspect nuclear fuel rods in the reactor began melting amid the high temperatures.

The nuclear safety agency said in the afternoon that the level of cooling water in the No. 1 reactor likely had dropped to 1.7 meters below the top of nuclear fuel rods, leading officials to suspect that about half of the rods' length had been exposed.

Workers continued to pour water into the reactor using temporary fire pumps, but the firm said in the afternoon it was considering cooling the reactor using seawater. Though the method would likely make it difficult for the reactor to be used in the future, TEPCO was putting top priority on cooling down the reactor core, the company said.

Earlier in the day, the agency announced that the amount of radiation reached 150 micro-Sievert per hour, or 1,000 times the normal level, in the central control room of the No. 1 reactor.

But officials said that radiation level was not considered to immediately pose health risks to humans.

The agency also observed radiation 70 times the normal level at the plant's main gate, located about 1.5 kilometers away from the No. 1 reactor.

Meanwhile, TEPCO said it managed to release pressure in the No. 1 reactor's containment building.

The company was working to intentionally release radioactive vapor via escape valves in the Fukushima No. 1 and No. 2 plant containment buildings, to lower the unusually high pressure inside.

Workers tried to manually open valves to release vapor, but initially ran into trouble due to unexpectedly high radioactivity levels, according to TEPCO.

On Saturday morning, the government declared a state of emergency for the Fukushima No. 2 nuclear power plant, following a similar declaration Friday night for the No. 1 nuclear power plant, in line with the Law on Special Measures Concerning Nuclear Emergency Preparedness.
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