Another quake-hit Japan reactor in trouble

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_asiapacific/view/1116143/1/.html

TOKYO - The operator of a quake-hit Japanese nuclear plant said Sunday that the cooling system of another reactor was not working and risked a possible explosion.

"All the functions to keep cooling water levels in No. 3 reactor have failed at the Fukushima No. 1 plant," said a spokesman of Tokyo Electric Power

"As of 5:30 am (2030 GMT Saturday), water injection stopped and inside pressure is rising slightly," he said, adding the operator filed an emergency report on the plant's condition with the government.

The fresh risk arose after a huge explosion ripped through the plant's No. 1 reactor Saturday afternoon despite the operator's efforts to control high temperatures and growing inside pressure.

Tepco, however, said it was the structure encasing the reactor that had collapsed, adding that it happened at the time of an earthquake aftershock, and that the steel reactor inside it was not ruptured.

Japan had Friday declared an atomic emergency amid growing international concern over its reactors after an 8.9 magnitude earthquake, the biggest in Japan's history, unleashed massive tsunamis.

An evacuation order for local residents was expanded to 20 kilometres (12 miles) around the plant in fear that evaporating cooling liquid would expose the fuel rods to air and trigger a nuclear meltdown and major radiation leak.

The UN atomic watchdog said Japan reported that an estimated 200,000 people had been evacuated so far from the areas around the Fukushima No.1 and No. 2 nuclear plants.

The two Fukushima nuclear plants, some 200 kilometres (124 miles) north of Tokyo, are located close to each other, with six reactors at the No.1 plant and four reactors at the No.2.

- AFP /ls