Japan: Before and After T-Sunami and Nuclear Plant Blast

March 16, 2011

All workers from a crippled reactor at a nuclear power plant in Fukushima,
Japan, have been evacuated, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said Wednesday.

Edano said that white smoke was rising from the No. 3 reactor at the Fukushima
 Daichi power plant, adding officials were investigating the cause. He said
radiation levels had been fluctuating by the hour; they had spiked rapidly
Wednesday morning, and that even the minimal workforce was evacuated.

Edano said that something similar to what previously happened at reactor
No. 2 may be happening at reactor no. 3 — a possible problem with the reactor's
containment vessel.

Meanwhile, efforts continue to try to cool the storage pool at reactor No. 4. Edano
said officials were still trying to decide the best course of action, and that
simply adding a lot of water quickly could pose risks.

The development came after a fire broke out Wednesday at reactor No. 4.

Tokyo Electric Power Co. spokesman Hajimi Motujuku said the blaze erupted 

early Wednesday in the outer housing of the reactor's containment vessel. It 

wasn't clear if the second fire at reactor No. 4 in as many days was new, or 

if the first fire wasn't fully extinguished. Firefighters are trying to put out the 

flames. Japan's nuclear safety agency also confirmed the fire, whose cause 

was not immediately known.

Tuesday's fire and an apparent explosion damaged the reactor's roof, and
there are concerns that the spent fuel rods are overheating.About three
hours after the blaze erupted Wednesday, Japan's nuclear
safety agency said fire and smoke could no longer be seen at Unit 4,
ut that it was unable to confirm that the blaze had been put out.

Also Wednesday, the agency said 70 percent of the nuclear fuel
rods may have been damaged at another Fukushima Daiichi reactor
that was first stricken last week, triggering the crisis."But we don't
know the nature of the damage, and it could be either melting, or\
there might be some holes in them," said an agency spokesman,
Minoru Ohgoda.

Desperate plant operators considered dramatic plans to stave off a
meltdown in the reactor, including dumping water on it by helicopter.
But plant operators worried that the water wouldn't reach the fuel rods.