A quake struck southwest of Tokyo late on Tuesday and Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan called for calm as the government battled to cool three quake-damaged nuclear reactors in the northeast following the country’s worst quake on record five days ago.
The 6.1 magnitude earthquake struck at 10.31 pm local time, 42 km northeast of Shizuoka, according to the US Geological Survey. Chubu Electric Power Co’s Hamaoka Nuclear Plant, about 100 km from the epicentre, was unaffected by an earthquake, Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said in an e-mailed statement. The plant’s number four and number five units are still operating, it said.
The quake, which authorities didn’t characterise as an aftershock, came as hundreds of thousands of people faced freezing temperatures tonight with no power. Stocks slumped yesterday after the news that a third explosion and fire struck Tokyo Electric Power Co’s Fukushima plant, and supermarkets reported panic buying.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said yesterday radiation readings outside reactors rocked by explosions were falling below harmful levels, while a fire at a separate unit appeared to have been put out. Earlier, Edano said the steel unit containing the radioactive core of one reactor had been damaged and warned of dangerous contamination.
“The water supply at reactors number one and three are stable, and the radiation level at the front gate of the plant has dropped to a level that isn’t harmful to the human body,” Edano said at a briefing in Tokyo. At the same time, “the temperature is rising slightly” at the pond that stores spent nuclear fuel in the number four reactor.
Boiling water
Water in the pond may be boiling, said Hidehiko Nishiyama, an official at Japan’s nuclear safety agency. The rods need to be kept covered with water or they can overheat and spill radioactive material into the air, according to the US National Academy of Sciences.
France began evacuating its nationals, starting with 280 women and their children, Prime Minister Francois Fillon said. Lufthansa suspended flights to and from Tokyo and is rerouting planes to Nagoya and Osaka. Asian countries also moved to screen food imports from Japan.