japan nuclear blast

japan nuclear blast

A second explosion occurred Monday at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station in the aftermath of the earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan on Friday, the Japanese public broadcaster NHK reported. Eleven people were said to have been injured. Japan's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency said the blast, believed to be a hydrogen explosion, occurred at 11:01 a.m. in the No. 3 reactor of the power plant, NHK said. But radiation levels around the plant, about 170 miles north of Tokyo, remained within acceptable levels. On Saturday, a hydrogen explosion occurred in the No. 1 reactor at the same power plant. The Japanese government was making efforts to allay fears of large releases of radioactive materials. ''We judge that the possibility of a large amount of radioactive materials flying off from there is low,'' Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said at a news conference, according to the Kyodo news agency. Getting an accurate assessment of the loss of life and the damage to property will take time. Authorities reported that 1,647 were confirmed dead and 1,720 were reported missing after the 8.9 magnitude earthquake and subsequent tsunami hit on Friday. But Kyodo reported that 2,000 bodieshad been found Monday in the prefecture of Miyagi. Officials predicted that the death toll in Miyagi, which is the state at the epicenter of the quake, would "certainly be more than 10,000," the Japanese network NHK reported. Concerns were also rising that the triple disaster would disrupt Japan's economy. On Monday the Japanese stock prices plunged with the Nikkei index falling 6.18 percent. On Sunday Japan's prime minister, Naoto Kan, said the earthquake and tsunami had confronted the nation with its most "severe crisis" since World War II

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