Japan Nuclear Explosion| Earthquake | Tsunami | Japan Nuclear Blast www.bbc.co.uk
A second explosion has hit a Japanese nuclear plant that was damaged in Friday's earthquake, but officials said the reactor core was still intact.
A huge column of smoke billowed from Fukushima Daiichi's reactor 3, two days after a blast hit reactor 1.
The latest explosion, said to have been caused by a hydrogen build-up, injured 11 people, one of them seriously.
Soon afterwards, the government said a third reactor at the plant had lost its cooling system.
Water levels were now falling at reactor 2, which is to be doused with sea water, said government spokesman Yukio Edano.
Tens of thousands of people have been evacuated from the area around Fukushima Daiichi plant.
At least 22 people were said to be undergoing treatment for radiation exposure.
Powerful aftershocks
The government said radiation levels were below legal limits after Monday's explosion. Tokyo Electric Power, which runs the plant, said the reactor's containment vessel had resisted the impact.
A similar cooling system breakdown preceded the explosions at reactors 1 and 3.
The operators say the thick containment walls shielding the reactor cores have so far remained intact.
Even if the fuel rods do go into meltdown there should not be a release of radioactive clouds, they say.
The BBC's Chris Hogg in Tokyo says radiation has been detected outside the plant, but at low concentrations.
At one point it rose to a level similar to that one is exposed to during an X-ray, our correspondent says.
Experts say a disaster on the scale of Chernobyl in the 1980s is highly unlikely because the reactors are built to a much higher standard and have much more rigorous safety measures.
Earlier, the prime minister said the situation at the nuclear plant was alarming, and the earthquake had thrown Japan into "the most severe crisis since World War II".
The government advised people not to go to work or school on Monday because the transport network would not be able to cope with demand.
The capital Tokyo is also still experiencing regular aftershocks, amid warnings that another powerful earthquake is likely to strike very soon, reports BBC News.
tags:japan tsunami 2011, japan nuclear plant blast, japan blast, japan tsunami 2011 live, japan nuclear explosion, earthquke japan, japans earthquake, japans disaster
A huge column of smoke billowed from Fukushima Daiichi's reactor 3, two days after a blast hit reactor 1.
The latest explosion, said to have been caused by a hydrogen build-up, injured 11 people, one of them seriously.
Soon afterwards, the government said a third reactor at the plant had lost its cooling system.
Water levels were now falling at reactor 2, which is to be doused with sea water, said government spokesman Yukio Edano.
Tens of thousands of people have been evacuated from the area around Fukushima Daiichi plant.
At least 22 people were said to be undergoing treatment for radiation exposure.
Powerful aftershocks
The government said radiation levels were below legal limits after Monday's explosion. Tokyo Electric Power, which runs the plant, said the reactor's containment vessel had resisted the impact.
A similar cooling system breakdown preceded the explosions at reactors 1 and 3.
The operators say the thick containment walls shielding the reactor cores have so far remained intact.
Even if the fuel rods do go into meltdown there should not be a release of radioactive clouds, they say.
The BBC's Chris Hogg in Tokyo says radiation has been detected outside the plant, but at low concentrations.
At one point it rose to a level similar to that one is exposed to during an X-ray, our correspondent says.
Experts say a disaster on the scale of Chernobyl in the 1980s is highly unlikely because the reactors are built to a much higher standard and have much more rigorous safety measures.
Earlier, the prime minister said the situation at the nuclear plant was alarming, and the earthquake had thrown Japan into "the most severe crisis since World War II".
The government advised people not to go to work or school on Monday because the transport network would not be able to cope with demand.
tags:japan tsunami 2011, japan nuclear plant blast, japan blast, japan tsunami 2011 live, japan nuclear explosion, earthquke japan, japans earthquake, japans disaster
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