Earthquake in Japan: mass evacuation around a nuclear power plant
Posted on 3/11/2011, 1:50 p.m. | Updated: 03/12/2011, 0:20
The reactors at the Fukushima nuclear plant is shut down since the earthquake. The cooling system of the turbines would be stopped, according to Japanese television.| DR
After the massive earthquake that struck the country , the Japanese authorities have ordered the evacuation of an area of ten kilometers around the nuclear power plant in Fukushima (250 km north of Tokyo).
Prime Minister Naoto Kan has asked people to evacuate the area inhabited by 45,000 people around 6:30 Saturday morning (22:30 Friday night, Paris time) due to radioactivity 8 times above normal and a leak radioactivity outside the plant. According to Kyodo, the rate of radioactivity was much more alarming: 1000 times above normal in the control room of reactor No. 1. Worse: according to Japanese media, a second nuclear power plant - still in the area of Fukushima - met Saturday morning cooling problems.
The Fukushima No. 1 plant is operated by Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) and party supplies the capital.
According Banri Kaieda, the industry minister quoted by Japanese news agencies, a small nuclear leak could occur in the central prefecture of Fukushima, south of Sendai, hard hit by the earthquake on Friday . The authority is preparing to release of radioactive steam to let off pressure that has arisen in a reactor at the Fukushima No. 1 plant, Kyodo news agency said. Around this central six thousand people had already been ordered to evacuate an area of three kilometers radius. The evacuation perimeter has been widened further.
Cooling waters of that installation had dropped to an alarming level, but a truck equipped with the proper equipment to restore the situation had arrived on the scene, according to the Japanese agency Jiji. Forces troops for self-defense (the name of the Japanese army) wearing protective nuclear (CBN) had been dispatched to the scene to check the situation.
So far, the authorities indicated that there was no radioactive leakage in nuclear power plants during the hours that followed the strongest earthquakes.
The state of emergency was declared nuclear Japan as a precaution. A total of eleven out of 55 reactors were automatically stopped, according to the Ministry of Industry. An outbreak of fire was also reported in a building housing a turbine in the nuclear Onagawa located in Miyagi Prefecture.
The plant's largest country, Kashiwazaki-Kariwa in Niigata prefecture of central, farthest from the epicenter, was still operating on it. About 4.4 million homes were without power in north-eastern Japan.
Prime Minister Naoto Kan has asked people to evacuate the area inhabited by 45,000 people around 6:30 Saturday morning (22:30 Friday night, Paris time) due to radioactivity 8 times above normal and a leak radioactivity outside the plant. According to Kyodo, the rate of radioactivity was much more alarming: 1000 times above normal in the control room of reactor No. 1. Worse: according to Japanese media, a second nuclear power plant - still in the area of Fukushima - met Saturday morning cooling problems.
The Fukushima No. 1 plant is operated by Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) and party supplies the capital.
According Banri Kaieda, the industry minister quoted by Japanese news agencies, a small nuclear leak could occur in the central prefecture of Fukushima, south of Sendai, hard hit by the earthquake on Friday . The authority is preparing to release of radioactive steam to let off pressure that has arisen in a reactor at the Fukushima No. 1 plant, Kyodo news agency said. Around this central six thousand people had already been ordered to evacuate an area of three kilometers radius. The evacuation perimeter has been widened further.
Cooling waters of that installation had dropped to an alarming level, but a truck equipped with the proper equipment to restore the situation had arrived on the scene, according to the Japanese agency Jiji. Forces troops for self-defense (the name of the Japanese army) wearing protective nuclear (CBN) had been dispatched to the scene to check the situation.
So far, the authorities indicated that there was no radioactive leakage in nuclear power plants during the hours that followed the strongest earthquakes.
The state of emergency was declared nuclear Japan as a precaution. A total of eleven out of 55 reactors were automatically stopped, according to the Ministry of Industry. An outbreak of fire was also reported in a building housing a turbine in the nuclear Onagawa located in Miyagi Prefecture.
The plant's largest country, Kashiwazaki-Kariwa in Niigata prefecture of central, farthest from the epicenter, was still operating on it. About 4.4 million homes were without power in north-eastern Japan.
