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Four of the Fukushima Daiichi plant's six reactors are shown in this satellite photo from Geoeye via Google Earth. The reactors are the four tall buildings inland of the four longer buildings; the Pacific Ocean to the east is on the bottom of this photo. Reactors four, five, and six had been shut down before the earthquake and tsunami, but plant operators are struggling to cool down units one and three.(Credit:screenshot by Stephen Shankland/CNET)
Officials in Japan are racing to prevent a nuclear disaster as another explosion has rocked the earthquake-damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, the third in four days.
The explosion occurred at 6 a.m. local time Tuesday inside the plant's unit 2 reactor, executives at the Tokyo Electric Power Co.--the plant's owner--reported at a news conference. Pressure readings indicate the reactor's containment vessel may have been damaged, and workers have been evacuated from the vicinity as a precaution, the company said. However, the outer shell of unit 2's containment building is intact, the International Atomic Energy Agency said.
The blast comes a day after the buildup of hydrogen gas caused an explosion in the plant's unit 3 reactor, injuring six people, the IAEA.
The regular power at the nuclear plant for the cooling system failed after the earthquake, at which time diesel generators kicked in for backup system. Less than an hour after the earthquake, though, the tsunami arrived and the generators failed. Plant operators have been pumping seawater into the reactors to cool them.
If the fuel rods inside the reactors get too hot, for example, if they can't be kept immersed or when the cooling system fails, the uranium can melt, causing a meltdown. The extreme heat also can produce dangerous amounts of gas that must be vented into the air to prevent an explosion.
Fukushima government spokesman Masato Abe told the media today that the fuel rods in unit 2 were briefly exposed but could not confirm whether they were ever totally exposed.
It was the latest in a series of serious problems triggered by Friday's earthquake and the resulting series of tsunamis that swept over Japan. The 185,000 residents living within 20 kilometers (12.4 miles) of the Fukushima Daiichi plant have been evacuated, piling another major problem on top of thousands of deaths, extensive property damage, rolling power blackouts, a run on food and water in Tokyo, and economic troubles.
The official death toll from last week's massive earthquake and tsunami has risen to 2,414, Japanese police said Tuesday. However, officials believe that tens of thousands may have been swept away by the tsunami that struck the northeastern coast of Japan on Friday.
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