What appears to be another hydrogen blast has occurred at a nuclear power plant in Fukushima. No damage to the reactor chamber has been reported, but 11 people have been injured.
The Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency says what it believes was a hydrogen blast occurred at 11:01 AM on Monday at the No.3 reactor of Tokyo Electric Power Company’s Fukushima No.1 nuclear power plant. The agency says it has so far observed no abnormal rise in radiation around the compound of the plant.
The company says the blast injured 11 people.
The Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency has advised anyone remaining within 20 kilometers of the power plant to take shelter inside buildings as soon as possible. About 600 people are thought to be still in the area.
A similar hydrogen blast occurred at the No.1 reactor at the same plant on Saturday.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano told reporters that he has received a report that the latest blast has left the container of No.3 reactor intact. He said the likelihood of large volumes of radioactive materials being dispersed in the air is low.
Video footage shows that the top of the building housing the reactor has been blown off, as in Saturday’s blast.
Fears of an explosion grew when the water level of the No. 3 reactor dropped, exposing fuel rods, and a reaction with the steam generated a large amount of hydrogen. The Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency says that even if the top of the building has blown off, the reactor chamber will not be affected.
via NHK WORLD English.
Japan’s nuclear safety and industrial agency reported sounds of an explosion at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant’s No. 3 reactor, according to Japanese public broadcaster NHK.
White smoke could be seen rising from the facility at 11 a.m. Monday.
Workers have been flooding this reactor and the plant’s No. 1 reactor with seawater to cool them after the earthquake and tsunami damaged the reactors’ cooling systems.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said a day earlier that accumulating hydrogen gas “may potentially cause an explosion” in the building housing the No. 3 reactor at the Daiichi plant. A similar scenario played out Saturday, when a blast caused by hydrogen buildup blew the roof off a concrete building housing the plant’s No. 1 reactor. The reactor and its containment system were not damaged in the explosion at the No. 1 reactor.
via Japan quake live blog: Sounds of explosion reported at nuclear plant
Related articles
- Japan’s Fukushima nuclear plant radiation levels skyrocket, fears possible meltdown (politisite.com)
- VIDEO- Explosion at Japan Fukushima Number One Nuclear reactor, Uranium fuel may be melting at reactor (ironmill.com)
- Japan declared state of emergency at Fukushima nuclear power plant as radiation levels are now being reported 1,000 times above normal, evacuating residents within a 10 Kilometer perimeter (ironmill.com)
- Nuclear Reactor Japan: Explosion Video at Fukushima Daiichi Plant (nowpublic.com)
