Shingo Ito, AAP, Reuters and Yahoo!7 March 16, 2011, 7:15 am
• Continued radiation threat
Radiation in Tokyo has been measured higher than normal and experts don't know what long term impact it might have.
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An explosion at a quake-crippled nuclear power plant has sent radiation wafting into Tokyo, prompting some people to flee the capital and others to stock up on essential supplies.
The crisis escalated late on Tuesday when operators of the facility said one of two blasts had blown a hole in the building housing a reactor, which meant spent nuclear fuel was exposed to the atmosphere.
Prime Minister Naoto Kan urged people within 30 km (18 miles) of the facility -- a population of 140,000 -- to remain indoors, as Japan grappled with the world's most serious nuclear accident since the Chernobyl disaster in Ukraine in 1986.
Officials in Tokyo -- 240 km (150 miles) to the south of the plant -- said radiation in the capital was 10 times normal at one point but not a threat to human health in the sprawling high-tech city of 13 million people.
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Toxicologist Lee Tin-lap at the Chinese University of Hong Kong said such a radiation level was not an immediate threat to people but the long-term consequences were unknown.
"You are still breathing this into your lungs, and there is passive absorption in the skin, eyes and mouth and we really do not know what long-term impact that would have," Lee told Reuters by telephone.
Around eight hours after the explosions, the U.N. weather agency said winds were dispersing radioactive material over the Pacific Ocean, away from Japan and other Asian countries.
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Homes in the dark as Japan cuts power
AAP
March 16, 2011, 5:27 am
Hospitals, homes and businesses have been left without electricity as a massive power shortage grips Japan.
Electricity has been cut to hundreds of thousands of homes, businesses and hospitals in the Kanto region as rolling power outages went ahead as planned, on the second day of an emergency effort to cope with a massive power shortage.
Tokyo Electric Power launched the blackouts after Friday's catastrophic earthquake and tsunami crippled several power plants and left the utility scrambling to meet demand.
About 700,000 households in 27 cities and towns in Kanagawa, Saitama, Tochigi and Gunma prefectures had their power cut for about three hours from early on Tuesday, the first time the electricity supply was cut in TEPCO's service area.
Police officers were stationed to direct traffic at intersections where traffic lights were rendered useless.
TEPCO has divided its service area into five "groups" that will be subject to rolling power cuts for periods of up to three hours. The 27 cities and towns affected by the first blackout - including Yokosuka and Zushi in Kanagawa Prefecture; parts of Saitama, Ageo and Okegawa in Saitama Prefecture; Tatebayashi and Ota in Gunma Prefecture; and Tochigi, Kanuma and Ashikaga in Tochigi Prefecture - are part of Group 3.
Group 4 - which includes 15 cities and towns in Saitama, Gunma and Tochigi prefectures - was next to be affected as the power went out from about 10am. About 240,000 households were affected for as long as three hours.
From about 1pm for up to three hours, power was cut to Group 5, which includes Matsudo, Kashiwa and Abiko in Chiba Prefecture; parts of Yokohama and Kamakura in Kanagawa Prefecture; and Fuji and Numazu in Shizuoka Prefecture.
TEPCO expected demand for electricity on Tuesday would peak at about 37 million kilowatts between 6pm and 7pm as people took trains home from work and turned on heaters and cooked dinner after arriving. However, TEPCO can presently only supply 33 million kilowatts, leaving a shortfall of 4 million kilowatts - the amount of energy expected to be needed by about 1.3 million households.
TEPCO originally planned to start the cuts on Monday morning, but cancelled the first few outages. The cuts began in some parts of the Kanto region in the evening as power consumption peaked. However, the utility flipped the switch as planned on Tuesday morning because "power demand jumped as more people began returning to work," a TEPCO official said.
Tokyo Electric said substations used to power trains in the Tokyo metropolitan area will not be affected by blackouts. This will give rail operators more confidence that they will have enough power to keep their trains running, and ease the chaos and congestion that frustrated millions of commuters on Monday as services were cancelled or reduced to cope with the expected power cuts.
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JAPAN RACES TO CONTAIN NUCLEAR CRISIS
Shingo Ito, AAP March 16, 2011, 5:07 am
Japanese crews are battling to avert a nuclear disaster and say they may pour water from helicopters to stop fuel rods from being exposed to the air and releasing even more radioactivity.
Radiation near the quake-hit Fukushima No.1 plant has reached levels harmful to health and was high overnight, officials said, advising thousands of people to stay indoors after two explosions and a fire at the facility Tuesday.
Four of the six reactors at the crippled facility, 250 kilometres northeast of Tokyo, have now overheated and sparked explosions since Friday's massive earthquake and tsunami knocked out their cooling systems.
The blasts at the seaside plant have shattered buildings housing the reactors but have apparently not penetrated the steel and concrete containers surrounding the fuel rods, reducing the risk of massive contamination.
Workers have used fire-fighting equipment to pump seawater into the reactors - and fears have spiked sharply after separate containment pools holding spent fuel rods at reactor number four started to heat up, threatening to run dry.
If the water in the deep pools evaporates, this would expose the fuel rods to the air, destroying them and sending radioactive materials into the air.
"We have no options other than to pour water from a helicopter, or to spray water from the ground," a spokesman for operator Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) said on television.
"We have to take action tomorrow or the day after."
The water in the containment pool of reactor number four may have been boiling earlier, Kyodo News reported on Wednesday.
Worsening levels of radiation on Tuesday forced the company to pull out most of its hundreds of workers who have been battling the emergency.
They later evacuated the plant's central control room and were now monitoring the site remotely, Kyodo reported.
Tens of thousands have already been evacuated from within a radius of 20 kilometres of the 40-year-old plant, andPrime Minister Naoto Kan urged people living within 10 kilometres of that zone to stay indoors.
"There is no doubt that unlike in the past, the (radiation) figures are at the level at which human health can be affected," chief government spokesman Yukio Edano said on Tuesday.
There was a danger of further leakage, Kan said.
"Please stay indoors, close windows and make your homes airtight," Edano urged residents during a press briefing. "Don't turn on ventilators. Please hang your laundry indoors."
Explosions hit the buildings housing reactors one and three on Saturday and Monday. On Tuesday, a blast hit reactor two at the crippled plant and there was also an explosion at reactor four that started a fire.
TEPCO said the blaze was extinguished later in the morning with US help.
Radiation levels were monitored at 4.548 millisieverts per hour at 11pm (0100 AEDT) and rose further to 7.966 millisieverts less than an hour later at the plant's entrance, Jiji Press reported, quoting TEPCO officials.
Levels fluctuated throughout the day.
A single dose of 1000 millisieverts - or one sievert - causes temporary radiation sickness such as nausea and vomiting.
The continuing nuclear crisis has unnerved regional residents already struggling with the aftermath of the quake and tsunami.
Higher than normal radiation was detected in Tokyo on Tuesday, prompting many people to flee, but a city official said it was not considered at a level harmful to human health and the level fell later in the day.
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