LD QUAKE 2 LST

LD QUAKE 2 LST
He said the blast that blew away the roof and the
walls of the building housing the container was similar to an
explosion Saturday at another reactor of the same plant.
Other media reports said that the explosion was heard
from 40 kilometers away.
The top government spokesman said operations to pour
sea water into the reactor to cool it down were continuing and
the level of pressure in the container was stable, Kyodo said.
Japan's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency said wind
was not blowing in the area and the radiation level had not
significantly risen.
Over two lakhs people have been evacuated from a 20
kms radius from the nuke plant joining over 3.5 lakhs who have
already moved out.
The radiation at the plant's premises Monday rose over
the benchmark limit of 500 micro sievert per hour at two
locations, according to the report.
The hourly amounts are more than half the 1,000 micro
sievert to which people are usually exposed in one year.
The maximum level detected so far around the plant is
1,557.5 micro sievert logged Sunday, Kyodo reported.
The seawater were being poured into the plant's 1 and
3 reactors to help cool their cores, which are believed to
have partially melted after part of the fuel rods were no
longer covered by coolant water when levels fell following the
quake.
Japan's nuclear agency had earlier declared a state of
emergency at another nuclear facility at Onagawa after
excessive nuclear radiations were reported there.
Thousands of military personnel and civilians joined
hands in a massive search and rescue operation.
The International Atomic Energy Agency said it was
continuing to liaise with the Japanese authorities and
monitoring the situation as it evolves.