Japan nuclear reactor meltdown update crack#

Scientists warned yesterday of a 'worst-case scenario' in which the highly radioactive material could be blasted into the atmosphere and blown towards the West Coast by the Pacific jet stream - as seen in the graphic above. There are growing fears that nuclear fall out from the Fukushima reactor could hit the United States. 'With the radiation, it's like you cannot escape and you can't see it.' 'Everyone is going out of the country today,' said Gunta Brunner, a 25-year-old creative director from Argentina. Tourists cut short vacations and multinational companies either urged staff to leave or said they were considering plans to move outside Tokyo. Scores of residents were also fleeing, with the Foreign Office advising against all non-essential travel to Tokyo and the north-east of Japan.Д¬hina also said it would evacuate its citizens from areas worst affected and s everal embassies advised staff and citizens to leave affected areas. Children and foetuses are especially vulnerable.'ДЄs Tokyo residents began panic buying, Don Quixote, a multi-storey, 24-hour general store in Tokyo sold out of radios, flashlights, candles and sleeping bags. These are thyroid cancer, bone cancer and leukaemia. Lam Ching-wan, a chemical pathologist at the University of Hong Kong, said: 'The explosions could expose the population to longer-term radiation which can raise the risk of cancer.

Health officials have stressed that the radiation levels outside the 18-mile exclusion zone are not harmful, but experts warn residents could still face an increased cancer risk. Nevertheless, plant officials are seeking the help of the American military to spray the overheating reactors with water from helicopters, to avoid exposing workers to 'very acute' levels of radiation on the ground at the plant.ДЄlthough forecasters say wind is blowing the harmful material out to sea, some Tokyo residents began to flee and others started panic buying emergency supplies. Tokyo's Nikkei index of leading shares closed down 10.6 per cent today after a 6 per cent fall yesterday.ДЄnd when Prime MInister Naoto Kan suggested that the country faces more radiation leaks today, shares plunged by 14 per cent before recovering slightly There are fears any deterioration in the Fukushima crisis will trigger panic selling of Japanese shares. The Japanese stock market has suffered its worst two days for more than 20 years in the wake of the tsunami and growing nuclear crisis. Officials said radiation levels at the power plant gate were falling this afternoon. But the radiation escaping is thought to be steam from the storage pond, rather than more deadly radiation from exposed fuel rods. The reactor core is thought to be exposed to the air after the containment wall was cracked. The fire was in a fuel storage pond - an area where used nuclear fuel is kept cool - and officials said 'radioactivity is being released directly into the atmosphere.' A fourth reactor caught fire overnight but the blaze was extinguished today. That caused three reactors at the plant to overheat, with one exploding on Saturday, another yesterday and the third late last night. Austrian airlines sent a military expert to Tokyo to test their aircraft.ДЇukushima is likely to be the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl in 1986 - after Friday's tsunami knocked out cooling systems at the plant which lies 150 miles north of Tokyo. Lufthansa said all planes will be tested for radioactivity when they return to Germany 'as a precautionary measur'. Pakced: Passengers stand in line at Haneda Airport, Tokyo, as a mass exodus from stricken Japan continued Levels of radiation were ten times higher than normal in the capital today, as experts warned that people in Japan could face an increased cancer risk even if the crisis does not deteriorate. Radiation levels have soared acoss the country as radioactive material spewed directly into the atmosphere while emergency crews fought to avoid a catastrophic meltdown. The Fukushima Dai-ichi plant suffered a third reactor explosion last night, another reactor on the site caught fire - and officials today announced the wall of one reactor was cracked. Scores of terrified residents began to flee Tokyo today as a nuclear power plant destroyed by the tsunami threatened to send a cloud of radioactive dust across Japan. to spray water on over-heating reactors from helicopters Mass exodus as thousands residents flee towns close to reactor.Radiation levels up to ten times higher than normal in Tokyo.

Japan nuclear reactor meltdown update crack#

One reactor core 'exposed to the atmosphere' through crack in containment wall.

Power station has now suffered three reactor explosions and one fire.

Radiation leaking directly into the air from stricken Fukushima nuclear plant.