14 March 2011 VOA News A second explosion has rocked a nuclear power plant in Japan. A powerful explosion blew the walls off of a second troubled nuclear power plant unit in northern Japan Monday, rattling nerves in an area where 70,000 earthquake and tsunami survivors have fled their homes fearing the spread of radioactive contamination.
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Officials said the late morning explosion at the Number 3 reactor at the Fukushima power plant was caused by hydrogen, and that the reactor's containment vessel remained intact. Chief government spokesman Yukio Edano said there was little danger that the blast had caused a major leak of radiation.
Initial reports said several workers were injured and seven were missing after Monday's blast. A similar hydrogen explosion occurred in the Number 1 unit of the plant north of Tokyo Saturday.
The explosion occurred mid-morning Monday, while workers were battling to bring down temperatures inside the Fukushima Number One nuclear power plant's number three reactor.
Television images showed a strong explosion obliterating the upper walls of the reactor building and causing a huge plume of white smoke.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano spoke moments later at a news conference, saying the explosion appears similar to one that occurred Saturday at the same plant's number one reactor.
That was sparked with hydrogen, which was being vented to relieve pressure, mixed with oxygen.
Officials at the plant say Saturday's explosion destroyed the operations floor of the reactor building, but did not damage the reactor's containment vessel or core.
Pressure and temperature levels at the reactor had been very high since a large tsunami on Friday disabled generators running its cooling system.
Earlier Monday, workers had been evacuated because of dangerously high pressure levels.
Tokyo Electric Power company, which operates the plant, said an undetermined number of workers had been injured in the blast.
The government advised anyone within 20 kilometers of the power station to stay indoors and close windows. Several people were exposed to radiation following Saturday's blast.
Officials said dozens of people could have been exposed to radiation while being evacuated from Futabe, a town near one of the damaged plants. They and hundreds of others were being scanned for radiation exposure.
In a further sign of the high anxiety gripping the earthquake area, authorities sounded tsunami sirens and began evacuating a coastal area Monday morning believing a 3-meter tidal wave was about to strike. It turned out to be a false alarm.
Operators at Fukushima and other nuclear power plants are frantically trying to keep temperatures down in reactors that were damaged by Friday's massive quake. Workers are injecting sea water into the reactors to try to cool them and reduce internal pressure.
Despite concern about the spread of radiation, the loss of reactors will be felt in another way across eastern Japan. Power companies warn there will be rolling blackouts as a result of the unusual shortage of electricity.
The estimated death toll from Japan's disaster climbed past 10,000, and hundreds of thousands of people were struggling to find food and water. Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan, speaking on national television, called the quake and the massive tsunami in the country's northeast the most severe challenge to his country since the end of World War II.
He spoke as overnight temperatures fell toward freezing, while survivors huddled for a third night in makeshift shelters.
One-hundred-thousand Japanese troops are now involved in relief efforts and a small flotilla of U.S. naval vessels is joining relief efforts.
Friday's earthquake off the eastern coast of Japan's main island, Honshu, was the strongest in Japan's modern history. A huge tsunami triggered by the undersea quake smashed into Japan's east coast minutes later, washing away entire villages, damaging roads, destroying harbors and leaving hundreds of thousands without electricity and other services.
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