11 March 2011 Last updated at 22:08 GMT

Japan warns of small radiation leak at nuclear plant

Japanese authorities have warned there could be a small radiation leak from a nuclear reactor whose cooling system was knocked out by the earthquake.

Technicians at the Fukushima Daiichi plant are set to release vapour from the unit in question to lower the pressure and prevent a meltdown.

This carries a risk that a "small" amount of radioactive material could leak, officials say.

More: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-12720219

-- BBC 2011-03-11

If you guys get NHK on your cable you should turn it on, they're showing live helicopter footage. Total devastation. Showing apartment buildings standing with people on top, and all the houses surrounding them have vanished. Huge fires all over. There's going to be an absolutely enormous death toll

Edited March 11, 201115 yr by DP25

Japan trying to prevent meltdown at nuclear plant in Fukushima

A portion of Japan's nuclear reactors have been shut down in the wake of the earthquake and subsequent tsunami, but officials are worried about the Fukushima plant, where the emergency cooling system is problematic.

Japanese nuclear officials are worried about the Fukushima plant, where the

emergency cooling system is problematic. (EPA / The Tokyo Electric Power)

By Thomas H. Maugh II and Ralph Vartabedian, Los Angeles Times

March 11, 2011, 1:40 p.m.

About 18% of Japan's 33 nuclear reactors have been shut down in the wake of the magnitude 8.9 earthquake that struck offshore Thursday and triggered a massive tsunami, but officials are particularly troubled by events at one of them — the 480-megawatt Fukushima No. 1 plant in Fukushima Prefecture, where the emergency cooling system has not been functioning properly and authorities fear a meltdown.

More: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-sci-japan-quake-nuclear-20110312,0,2627198.story

-- Los Angeles Times 2011-03-11

If you guys get NHK on your cable you should turn it on, they're showing live helicopter footage. Total devastation. Showing apartment buildings standing with people on top, and all the houses surrounding them have vanished. Huge fires all over. There's going to be an absolutely enormous death toll

Thanks for that information. Those who can't get it on their television screen can see it on the Internet in a tiny screen here: http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/

AP: Radiation levels at Japanese nuclear power plant are 1,000 times normal levels, some seeps outside: http://apne.ws/h62zbt -EF

BREAKING -- California Governor Brown declares state of emergency in four counties due to tsunami damage

BNO News: Tsunami warning CANCELED for the U.S. West Coast; replaced with tsunami advisory (lowest of 3 scales)

BNO News: Tsunami warning canceled for Papua New Guinea

Kyodo: Economic losses from quake to be in the "tens of billions of dollars"

Kyodo: 217 die in 9 pref., 681 missing

CNN: Scope of casualties still uncertain as sun rises in Japan after 8.9 #quake

@BreakingNews: U.S. officials now say they offered to provide coolant to Japan for its nuclear plant, but nation declined

Hawaii: Tsunami warning, advisory also canceled. No warning/watches or advisories in effect for Hawaii

What a mess

I guess there will be more around the ring of fire. NZ, Japan next >>> ? Alaska?

CNN: State of emergency declared for all counties for Oklahoma due to #wildfires http://on.cnn.com/fpDHPy

CBS: BREAKING: #Japan issues state of emergency at 2nd nuclear plant after cooling system failure http://bit.ly/exMpxQ #jpquake

2,000 Thai Airways passengers stranded at 2 airports in Tokyo after earthquake (BkkPost)

REUTERS: Daybreak reveals huge devastation in tsunami-hit Japan reut.rs/fnSTDK

CNN: U.S. sending rescue teams with search dogs to help in Japan #quake aftermath http://on.cnn.com/gGU4MO

Many Thais have lost contact with their relatives in Japan after earthquake/tsunami (Nation) http://tinyurl.com/4z3c48r

BNO News: Tokyo: Coastal areas of Miyako, Yamada in Iwate Pref. completely submerged

SKY News: Japanese boat swept away by tsunami found, all 81 aboard airlifted to safety - reports

AP: Japan declares states of emergency for five nuclear reactors at two power plants: http://apne.ws/dWSKe1 #earthquake #tsunami -EF

BNO News: Kyodo: Evacuation order issued in 3-km radius of Fukushima No. 2 nuke plant

Related topic

Southern Thai Provinces Alert For Tsunami

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Thai Travel Industry Fears Effects Of Japan Quake

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FLASH: About 20,000 people are being evacuated from the vicinity of Fukushima plant - Kyodo /RT @Reuters

Apparently, the USGS has upgraded the earthquake to a 9.0. /RT @mpesce

NHK: Japanese Govt. confirms small radiation leak at Fukushima 1 plant, expands evacuation area to 10K

Evacuation advisory expansion

The Japanese government has expanded the evacuation area around a nuclear power plant in Fukushima Prefecture because of a radiation leak.

It increased the radius to ten-kilometers from three.

The Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency said radiation has risen to a level 1000 times higher than usual in the central control room of the Fukushima number one reactor.

[in a separate article, NHK used different figures...as follows:

The government's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency says the pressure had risen to up to twice the normal figure by 5 AM on Saturday.

The agency says radiation levels have risen to up to about 100 times the normal figure in the central control room where the reactor's operators are working.]

It also said the operation to lower the pressure in the containment vessel has been delayed.

The agency told reporters a small amount of radioactive material is leaking from the first reactor. It's calling on local people to be calm when they evacuate the area. It says the level of radiation is not harmful to human health.

Saturday, March 12, 2011 07:28 +0900 (JST)

http://www3.nhk.or.j...lish/12_25.html

AND

Cooling equipment fails at Fukushima No.2 plant

The Tokyo Electric Company has warned the Japanese government of an emergency situation at a second nuclear plant in quake-stricken Fukushima Prefecture.

Tokyo Electric issued the warning about its Fukushima Number Two Plant on Saturday. The warning follows one earlier in the day for the Number One Plant.

The government's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency said equipment failures have made it impossible to cool 3 of the plant's 4 reactors. It said the situation poses no immediate threat of a leakage of radioactive materials.

The agency is considering whether it needs to issue an evacuation advisory to people living near the plant.

Saturday, March 12, 2011 08:18 +0900 (JST)

http://www3.nhk.or.j...lish/12_27.html

Edited March 12, 201115 yr by jfchandler

REUTERS: Analysts say Japan may have hours to prevent nuclear meltdown

YouTube - Tsunami Strikes Japan After 8.9-Magnitude Earthquake http://j.mp/hld6S1 RT @joshva

Map of the Damage From the Japanese Earthquake - NYTimes.com http://j.mp/igvPMa RT @joshva

This is beginning to look like a movie plot, but sadly it is reality. A very frightening time for Japan.

Edited March 12, 201115 yr by canuckamuck

OCTAVIANASR: Greenpeace to AFP: "#Japan is in middle of a nuclear crisis with potentially devastating consequences." Live Updates: http://bbc.in/gUYmtX

NHK Updates quake death toll

More than 442 believed dead in quake

The scale of the death and destruction following the earthquake and tsunami in Japan is growing worse by the hour. 242 people have been confirmed dead and at least 200 others are believed to be dead.

On top of that, more than 740 people are missing in several prefectures in the country's northeast.

Police say 200 to 300 unidentified bodies have been found in the city of Sendai in Miyagi Prefecture. A tsunami made its way 10 kilometers inland from the coast. 53 people have been confirmed dead in the prefecture.

MORE: http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/12_26.html

Our thoughts and prayers should be with these poor people. I can't even imagine going through this. For sure, it's like a disaster movie, only real.

REUTERS: Japan warns of radiation leak from quake-hit plants reut.rs/fbsL01

NHK was doing a live English language broadcast stream from their web site yesterday, but that appears to be not running this morning....

But their English video feed is running on a different site now... http://jibtv.com/program/?page=0

I was working in the office on the center of Tokyo (Kasumigaseki area) when the quakes hit just after 3pm Saturday 12.

It was frightening but no structural damages to the building.

Were told by the building management to stay indoors and wait for instruction

All public transport stopped and millions had to walk home or stay put at work

I managed to come back home on my Vespa it took 3 times longer at the roads were full of panicking commuters trying ot get home.

I live on the 6th floor in central Tokyo and lots of crockery, glasses, etc. were thrown and broken on the floors but no other big damage. Lift not working.

Looking at the damage and the hundreds of victims around Sendai (North japan) Tokyo was not severely hit.

We can still feel small tremors now nearly a a day later

Big disaster for Japan

Damage updates from NHK:

The Defense Ministry says more than 15,000 people in the prefectures of Miyagi and Aomori are taking shelter at public facilities, such as schools and the Sendai air port.

Police say more than 300 homes in Ofunato have been destroyed by a tsunami.

The Fire and Disaster Management Agency says almost the whole city of Rikuzentakata in Iwate Prefecture has been flattened by the tsunami. The city is located in the Pacific coast and has the population of 23,000.

The East Japan Railway Company says it cannot make contact with crews on four of its trains. One of them was running in the city of Higashimatsushima in Miyagi prefecture at the time of the earthquake. Local police says a tsunami swept the train off its tracks.

AND

A strong earthquake jolted the prefectures of Nagano and Nigata in central Japan on Saturday.

Tremors with intensities of 6-plus on the Japanese scale of 0 to 7 were registered in northern Nagano at around 3:59AM local time.

Jolts with intensities of 6-minus were recorded in Nigata prefecture.

Japan's Meteorological Agency estimates the earthquake had a magnitude of 6.7, with its focus at a depth of 8 kilometers in Niigata's Chuetsu region.

In northern Nagano, there were landslides along the railway connecting to Nigata. NHK video shows a train track dangling off a hillside.

Edited March 12, 201115 yr by jfchandler

More evacuations as radiation soars at endangered reactors

Tokyo - More evacuations were ordered Saturday morning after the cooling system at a second nuclear power plant broke down in the wake of the massive earthquake that hit Japan a day earlier.

Residents within 3 kilometres of the Fukushima Daini power plant, also known as Fukushima II, were ordered to leave their homes. Earlier Saturday, authorities extended evacuations to residents living within 10 kilometres of another nearby nuclear plant, Fukushima Daiichi, also known as Fukushima I, where the cooling system experienced troubles Friday.

Radiation measurements inside the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant were 1,000 times higher than normal after the massive earthquake in northern Japan, the Kyodo news agency reported early Saturday, citing Japan's nuclear safety agency.

Authorities were concerned that radioactivity may have escaped the plant due to high pressure inside an overheating reactor. The earthquake damaged power supplies and disrupted the reactor's cooling systems. An observation post near the plant's gate recorded radiation levels eight times higher than normal

-- The Nation 2011-03-12

This is an older report from overnight, but it's the first news I've seen on this..

26,000 people stranded at Haneda, Narita airports

Japan's transport ministry says Friday's earthquake has obstructed air traffic in the country.

The quake had caused 903 cancellations and 303 delays of domestic and international flights as of 10 PM Friday.

About 13,000 people were stranded at Tokyo's Haneda Airport and around 13,000 at Narita Airport near Tokyo.

They were not able to leave the airports due to limited means of transportation, as many railway companies suspended their services.

Airport officials are providing the stranded people with blankets and meals.

Saturday, March 12, 2011 00:53 +0900 (JST)

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/12_02.html

At least 124 quakes magn 5 or higher strike near Honshu, Japan, since 8.9 quake hit area Frid -USGS: /RT @BreakingNews:

Tokyo Electric Power, which runs two atomic plants in Japan, releases some radioactive vapour at plants to relieve building reactor pressure, but stresses move posed no health risks /MCOT

Latest NE Japan quake measured 6.4, meanwhile 6.1 quake near Tonga: /RT @mpoppel

Death toll in Japan has risen to 287 with 725 missing: /RT @mpoppel

Japan warned of possible radiation leak as authorities contain rising pressure at 2 nuclear plants damaged by quake, tsunami that killed at least 402/MCOT