JAPAN: Fukushima streets deserted as officials prepare for possible meltdown of nuclear plant

Record ID: 215915

  • Title: JAPAN: Fukushima streets deserted as officials prepare for possible meltdown of nuclear plant
  • Date: 16th March 2011
  • Summary: PEOPLE WATCHING TELEVISION VARIOUS OF RESCUE WORKER WATCHING TELEVISION
  • Embargoed: 31st March 2011 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Japan, Japan
  • Country: Japan
  • Topics: Disasters / Accidents / Natural catastrophes,Energy
  • Reuters ID: LVA2M9V4A4P46ZKJE6RPMFMKKSMI
  • Story Text: Disaster and relief efforts are ongoing in Fukushima prefecture's capital city in Japan on Tuesday (March 15) as officials prepare for disaster possibilities should there be a meltdown at the nearby nuclear power plant.
    The streets of Fukushima's capital city were relatively quiet.
    Inside the disaster command center officials are working the phones and gathering supplies.
    Radiation levels in the air surrounding Japan's quake-stricken nuclear power plant have risen four-fold after a fresh explosion at the site earlier on Tuesday, the plant operator said.
    The radiation reading at 08:31am local time (2331 GMT) climbed to 8,217 microsieverts an hour from 1,941 about 40 minutes earlier, Tokyo Electric Power Co said.
    Authorities at the Fukushima Daiichi complex, damaged in Friday's massive earthquake and tsunami, are trying to prevent meltdowns in three of the plant's nuclear reactors.
    Fukushima's capital city is about 70 km from the plant, so evacuations were not mandatory. Still, residents concerns are evident.
    "I'm worrying about radiation affecting here and causing health problems. I'm also concerned whether we have to evacuate," said one unnamed resident. "I want them to consider the safety first," said another.
    Japanese authorities say levels would need to reach 1 million or so before causing large-scale radiation sickness.
    The full extent of the destruction wreaked by Friday's (March 11) massive quake and tsunami that followed is still becoming clear, as rescuers combed through the region north of Tokyo where officials say at least 10,000 people were killed.
    Prime Minister Naoto Kan said Japan was facing its worst crisis since World War Two and, with the financial costs estimated at up to $180 billion, analysts said it could tip the world's third biggest economy back into recession.
    The U.S. Geological Survey upgraded the quake to magnitude 9.0, from 8.9, making it the world's fourth most powerful since 1900.
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