Steam rises from stricken Japan plant
21:00 JST March 22: Smoke and steam rose from two of the
most threatening reactors at Japan's quake-crippled nuclear
plant on Tuesday, suggesting the battle to avert a disastrous
meltdown and stop the spread of radiation was far from won.
Technicians working inside an evacuation zone around the
stricken plant on Japan's northeast Pacific coast have
attached power cables to all six reactors and started a pump
at one of them to cool overheating nuclear fuel rods.
Kyodo news agency said steam appeared to rise from reactor No. 2 and white haze
was detected above reactor No. 3. There have been several blasts of steam from
the reactors during the crisis, which experts say probably released a small amount
of radioactive particles.
Japan urges Gaddafi to stop violence, consider resignation
Japanese Foreign Minister Takeaki Matsumoto said Tuesday that Japan is urging
Libya to immediately stop violence against its civilians and suggested leader Muammar
Gaddafi consider voluntarily stepping down. "A person who is effectively responsible
for the government that has been attacking its own citizens will be required to
consider what steps he should take," Matsumoto said a press conference after
being asked whether he thinks Gaddafi should resign. (AP)
Power cuts return as Japan starts to bury its dead
Rolling blackouts affecting 10 million homes restarted
Tuesday in Japan following a three-day break as the toll
rose and some cities chose to bury their dead after
crematoria ran out of fuel, media reports said.
The outages started around 9.20 a.m. (0020 GMT) and
were expected to last until 10 p.m., the Kyodo News
agency reported.
Tokyo Electric Power Co. said that demand would outstrip capacity as the working
week started following a public holiday Monday. Electricity supplies were affected
by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami which put some nuclear power stations
out of action.
A shortage of fuel affected efforts to dispose of bodies, forcing some crematoria-
the usual method in Japan - to stop work.
The government in Higashimatsushima city in Miyagi prefecture said it had bought
land to bury up to 1,000 people. City Mayor Hideo Abe said the burials were a
temporary solution and the bodies would be dug up and cremated within two years.
Radiation anxiety grows in disaster-struck Japan
Global anxiety rose over radiation from Japan's crippled
nuclear plant even as engineers had some success in the
battle to avert disaster from the world's worst atomic crisis
since Chernobyl. Mounting evidence of radiation in
vegetables, water and milk spread jitters among Japanese
and abroad despite officials' assurances levels were not
dangerous. Plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Company
said radiation was found in the Pacific nearby, not surprising given rain and the
hosing of reactors with sea-water. Radioactive iodine in the sea samples was 126.7
times the allowed limit, while cesium was 24.8 times over, Kyodo news agency said.
Weather hampers Japan aid effort as roads clear, fuel arrives
Rain and forecasts for snow in areas of Japan hardest hit by
the record earthquake and tsunami 11 days ago hampered
relief efforts for evacuees scattered among more than
2,000 shelters in the northeast of the country.
In Miyagi, the prefecture worst hit by the temblor and
tsunami, a break in the clouds this morning is expected to
turn to rain this afternoon, according to the Japan
Meteorological Agency.
In Iwate, where the death toll is nearing 3,000, officials are struggling to
coordinate supplies among the evacuation centers, said Kenta Nakata, a spokesman
at the prefecture's disaster headquarters. Landlines remain down and there is
limited cell phone reception, he said. The forecast is for snow later today.
Missing Virginia teacher's body found in Japan
The U.S. Embassy in Tokyo says it believes it has identified
the first American to die in Japan's devastating tsunami--
Taylor Anderson, 24, of Richmond, Va. -- according to U.S.
officials. Anderson was teaching English in one of the
country's northern coastal cities. Anderson's family has not
positively identified the body, officials said. Jean Anderson
said her daughter was last seen after the earthquake. She was riding her bike
toward her apartment after ensuring that students at her school had been picked
up by their parents. (ABC News
)
Fault line pressure now closer to Tokyo
The recent monster quake that hit northeastern Japan
altered the earth's surface, geologists say, loading stress
onto a different segment of the fault line much closer to
Tokyo. Scientists are quick to point out that this does not
mean a powerful earthquake is necessarily about to strike
the Japanese capital. Even if it did, the structure of the
tectonic plates and fault lines around the city makes it
unlikely that Tokyo would be hit by a quake anywhere near
the intensity of the 9.0-magnitude temblor that struck March
11, said Roger Musson of the British Geological Survey. (Boston
Globe)
(
http://www.newsonjapan.com/)