Sandy
Japan scrambled on Saturday to avert a disastrous meltdown at a nuclear plant damaged when a massive earthquake and tsunami struck the northeast coast, killing at least 1,300 people.
Jiji news agency said there had been an explosion at the stricken 40-year-old Daichi 1 reactor and TV footage showed vapour rising from the plant, which lies 240 km (150 miles) north of Tokyo.
Live updates from Yahoo! India. Refresh this page for the latest.
5.53pm: Indian foreign minister S M Krishna sends his condolences to Japan. Ministry of external affairs sets up special cell to monitor developments.
5.45pm: Summary of what World Nuclear News is saying: The plant has six reactors, three of which were in operation when the quake struck on Friday. All three shut down at once, as they are designed to, and automatically began removing residual heat with the help of emergency diesel generators. The generators stopped functioning after about an hour, possibly because of flooding caused by the tsunami. Plant owners Tokyo Electric Power Company immediately notified the government of an emergency. Work at the site is now centered on connecting portable power modules to replace the malfunctioning diesels..
5.36pm: World Nuclear News puts out status update on radiation leaks. Its website crashes, but is restores soon.
5.28pm: Aftershocks continue in Japan, while attention is focused on nuclear reactors. Texas researchers put out a map which tracks tremors in near real time.
4.33pm: Map from The New York Times, offering interactive information on earthquake and tsunami damage.
4.30pm: Japan's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency says serious damage to Fukushima nuclear reactor container unlikely.
4.26pm: 2.15 lakh tsunami-affected people now in emergency shelters.
4.22pm: Tsunami waves reach Africa, northern Chile. No damage reported.
4.20pm: Experts are downplaying risks from the explosion. Reuters quotes Ian Hore-Lacy, of the World Nuclear Association, as saying. "It is obviously a hydrogen explosion due to hydrogen igniting. If the hydrogen has ignited, then it is gone, it poses no further threat."
4.05pm: There are over 1,000 people unaccounted for -- either dead or missing, according to Japan's Kyodo News agency.
4.04pm: All 81 aboard tsunami-swept ship rescued: Japanese team airlifts everyone on board to safety, CNN-IBN reports, quoting Jiji Press.
4.02pm: Sony, Toyota, Nissan and Honda are among firms to have closed plants due to the massive quake, reports BBC.
3.50pm: As officials and relavant agencies struggle to come to grips with the explosion at Fukushima: a) authorities have extended the evacuation area at the neighboring Fukushima; b) to a ten kilometer radius.
3.48pm: Blast the the plant may have been caused by a hydrogen explosion, say reports
3.47pm: BBC's nuclear expert Walt Patterson, an associate fellow with Chatham House, said the presence of caesium, one of the elements released when overheating of a nuclear plant causes core damage, does not pose any significant threat to public health. Meanwhile, as engineers try to establish if Fukushima is in meltdown, Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan has re-declared a state of emergency at the plant, and at the neighboring Fukushima.
3.40pm: Official claims that the radiation levels at Fukushima-Daiichi was not serious is meeting with considerable speculation. The BBC in a report pointed out that officials have been less than honest with their "reassurances" in the past.
3.23pm: Japan's Meteorological Agency officials have told people living on the Pacific Coast to remain alert although there's slim chance of a 10m or higher tsunami now.
3.17pm: Aftershocks continue. The USGS reports the latest one, magnitude 5.4, is just 25 km (15.5 miles) off the east coast of Honshu.
3.16pm: BBC reports, Japan's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency is investigating the explosion at the Fukushima-Daiichi plant.
2.59pm: Video of the explosion
Posted in: Disasters
