KYODO NEWS
Radiation is feared to have leaked after part of a container vessel was apparently damaged by an explosion at the troubled No. 2 reactor of the quake-hit Fukushima nuclear plant Tuesday morning, its operator said, triggering fears that the problem could develop into a critical “meltdown” situation.
The government’s Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency said that radiation levels at the plant shot up after the apparent blast at 6:10 a.m., and the operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. ordered some workers at the site to temporarily evacuate the area.
Prime Minister Naoto Kan urged people living between 20 and 30 kilometers of the plant to stay indoors. Residents within a 20 km radius have already been ordered to vacate the area following Saturday’s hydrogen blast at the plant’s No. 1 reactor, and Kan stressed all people within the area must evacuate.
“The radiation level has risen substantially. The risk that radiation will leak from now on has risen,” Kan said.
The blast at the No. 2 reactor appears to be a hydrogen explosion, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said.
A fire also occurred around 9:40 a.m. at the plant’s No. 4 reactor, Tepco said.
The Japan Times for more