A second hydrogen blast hit Japan's Fukushima nuclear plant Monday, this time at the number-three reactor, injuring six people and sending smoke into the sky. The facility's operator, TEPCO, reported the reactor itself was likely undamaged, and authorities said the risk of a major radiation release remained low. The UN's nuclear watchdog confirmed radiation readings at the site were within normal range.
The explosions followed Friday's magnitude-8.9 earthquake and the devastating tsunami it triggered, a combined disaster Prime Minister Naoto Kan called the gravest crisis Japan had faced since World War II. Police in Miyagi prefecture predicted the death toll in that region alone would surpass 10,000; some 2,000 bodies had already been recovered there. Roughly 590,000 people were displaced nationwide.
Fukushima's cooling failure also knocked out the number-two reactor's cooling system later Monday, raising further alarm. Authorities expanded an evacuation zone to a 20-kilometer radius, relocating about 210,000 residents. A US Navy carrier operating nearby repositioned after detecting trace radiation levels officials described as posing no health risk.
Japan deployed around 100,000 troops for rescue operations. Economic damage from the earthquake alone was estimated between $14.5 billion and $34.6 billion, not counting tsunami losses. The quake shifted the main island of Honshu roughly 2.4 meters westward, according to the US Geological Survey.
Historical summary. TurkishPress restated this wire report, first published in March 2011, in its own words.