The second hydrogen explosion in three days rocked a Japanese nuclear plant yesterday, devastating the structure housing one reactor and injuring 11 workers. Water levels dropped precipitously at another reactor, completely exposing the fuel rods and raising the threat of a meltdown.
The morning explosion in Unit 3 of the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant was felt 40km away, but the plant’s operator said the radiation levels at the affected reactor were still within legal limits. Hours later, officials reported that the fuel rods at another reactor, Unit 2, were fully exposed, at least temporarily.
Authorities began pouring sea water into that unit to re-cover the rods — as they are at the plant’s two other troubled reactors after cooling system failures in the wake of Friday’s massive earthquake and tsunami, which killed at least 10,000 people. The latest explosion triggered an order for hundreds of people to stay indoors, Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said.
Operators knew the sea water flooding at Unit 3 would cause a pressure buildup in the reactor containment vessel — and potentially lead to an explosion — but felt they had no choice if they wanted to avoid a complete meltdown. In the end, the hydrogen in the released steam mixed with oxygen in the atmosphere and set off the blast.
The inner containment shell surrounding the Unit 3 reactor was intact, Edano said, allaying some fears of the risk to the environment and public. However, the outer building around the reactor appeared to have been devastated, with only a skeletal frame remaining.
Tokyo Electric Power, which operates the plant, said radiation levels at Unit 3 were well under the levels where a nuclear operator must file a report to the government.
A similar explosion occurred on Saturday at the plant’s Unit 1, injuring four workers, causing mass evacuations and destroying much of the outer building.
Shortly after yesterday’s explosion, Tokyo Electric said it had lost the ability to cool Unit 2. Hours later, an indicator showed that the water level briefly fell to the bottom of fuel rods, fully exposing them, according to company spokeswoman Takako Kitajima.
She said officials believe water levels have since recovered slightly as they continue to inject sea water into the reactor.
More than 180,000 people have evacuated the area in recent days and up to 160 may have been exposed to radiation — pouring misery onto those already devastated by the quake and tsunami.
Officials have declared states of emergency at six Fukushima reactors, where Friday’s twin disasters knocked out the main cooling systems and backup generators. Three are at Dai-ichi and three at the nearby Fukushima Daini complex.
International scientists say there are serious dangers, but little risk of a Chernobyl-style catastrophe. Chernobyl, they note, had no containment shell around the reactor.
“The likelihood there will be a huge fire like at Chernobyl or a major environmental release like at Chernobyl, I think that’s basically impossible,” said James Stubbins, a nuclear energy professor at the University of Illinois.
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