White Smoke Coming From Fukushima Reactor No. 3

[Guest guest]

http://www.myfoxhouston.com/dpps/news/fire-breaks-out-at-fukushima-reactor-no.-4\

-dpgonc-km-20110315_12333106

White Smoke Coming From Fukushima Reactor No. 3

Updated: Tuesday, 15 Mar 2011, 9:00 PM CDT

Published : Tuesday, 15 Mar 2011, 5:24 PM CDT

(NewsCore) - TOKYO -- White smoke seen billowing from Japan's Fukushima No. 1

nuclear power plant Wednesday is coming from the No. 3 reactor, the country's

nuclear safety agency confirmed to Kyodo News.

The facility's embattled operator, Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO), said it may

be steam.

A constant stream of white smoke was seen coming from the plant from 10:00am

local time on live TV footage streamed from an NHK helicopter, situated more

than 18 miles (30km) away from the plant -- outside the government-imposed

exclusion zone.

A fire was reported at the plant's No. 4 reactor earlier Wednesday, when a

worker at the plant saw flames and smoke pouring out of the reactor building's

fourth floor about 5:45am local time, Kyodo News reported citing information

from TEPCO.

The blaze was reported to firefighters and shortly after, seemed to be under

control.

" We have received information from TEPCO that the fire and smoke is now

invisible and it appears to have gone out of its own accord, " Minoru Ogoda, a

spokesperson for the state nuclear safety agency, told AFP.

It appeared to be located at the same site of Tuesday morning's fire which had

not been operating at the time of Friday's magnitude 9.0 earthquake and tsunami

that left more than 3,300 dead and thousands more unaccounted for.

The nuclear safety agency also confirmed Wednesday said the roof of the No. 4

reactor was cracked and that two TEPCO employees, who were working at the

turbine facility adjacent to the No. 4 reactor, have been missing since the twin

disasters hit.

TEPCO also said about 70 percent of the nuclear fuel rods have been damaged at

the plant's No. 1 reactor and 33 percent at the No. 2 reactor, Kyodo News

reported, with the cores of both reactors believed to have partially melted.

Japanese officials have been struggling to prevent overheating in the reactors

at the Fukushima No. 1 -- or Daiichi -- complex, which is located 155 miles

(250km) northeast of Tokyo and suffered major damage to its cooling systems

following the quake and tsunami.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said it remained concerned over

the status of the plant, which has experienced at least four explosions since

Friday, including one Tuesday at the plant's No. 2 reactor that may have damaged

the containment vessel designed to keep radiation from leaking out.

Japan's nuclear safety agency said it was desperately trying to prevent the

water that is cooling the plant's reactors from running dry, to avoid

overheating and the release of hazardous radioactive particles into the

atmosphere, Reuters reported.

Two reactors with early post-quake overheating and explosions -- Nos. 1 and 3 --

had been stabilized Tuesday, according to The Wall Street Journal.

But TEPCO said Tuesday it was considering using helicopters to pour water into a

fuel rod pool at the No. 4 reactor.

The operator was also considering the removal of panels from the No. 5 and No. 6

reactor buildings " to prevent a possible build-up of hydrogen " -- the cause of

explosions at the other reactors, according to the IAEA. The No. 5 and No. 6

reactors had been shut down at the time of the quake and have thus far not

caused any trouble. But as they remain loaded with fuel, the reactors pose a

potential threat.

After an 18-mile (30-kilometer) no-fly zone was established around the plant

Tuesday, analysts with the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) reviewed data

related to the radiation levels in the atmosphere overnight and concluded that

the measure was in step with what the US would have suggested in a similar

situation.

The Japanese government had announced that radiation levels spiked Tuesday

morning around the Fukushima complex, The Journal reported, prompting the city

of Iwaki, on the coast of northeastern Japan just outside the danger zone around

the plant, to tell its 340,000 citizens to stay inside with doors and windows

closed. But Japanese authorities said later in the day that radiation levels had

dropped significantly after that spike.