MELTDOWN at 3 Reactors, Nuclear Fallout: Radiation Level High

TOKYO, March 15, Kyodo

Radiation is feared to have leaked after the container vessel suffered damage at the No. 2 reactor of the quake-hit Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant Tuesday morning, Tokyo Electric Power Co. said.

The utility also admitted that a critical situation called ''meltdown'' in which fuel rods melt and are destroyed is possible at the plant where three reactor cores are believed to have partially melted following Friday's magnitude 9.0 earthquake that hit northeastern and eastern Japan.

An explosion was heard early Tuesday morning at the reactor and the radiation level temporarily shot up later, the firm said as it continued efforts to prevent overheating of exposed fuel rods.

Shortly after the apparent blast at 6:10 a.m., which appears to have damaged the reactor's pressure-suppression system, the radiation level exceeded the legal limit to reach 965.5 micro sievert per hour before jumping to 8,217 micro sievert at 8:31 p.m., it said.

The maximum level is more than eight times the 1,000 micro sievert level to which people can be exposed in one year.

The utility said it is evacuating workers from the plant, except for those necessary for work to cool the reactor.

The reactor's fuel rods were fully exposed for around two and a half hours Monday evening after water levels rapidly fell, and again late Monday night although seawater was being injected, prompting the utility to open some steam valves at 1:10 a.m. Tuesday in order to resume pumping seawater.

The water level recovered somewhat later in the morning to cover about 1.2 meters of the fuel rods, about one-third of their height, the firm said.

Prime Minister Naoto Kan said earlier in the morning that the government and TEPCO will set up an integrated headquarters, headed by himself, to address issues at the Fukushima No. 1 plant.

With radiation levels around the facility up, TEPCO suspects the core of the No. 2 reactor has partially melted, a critical nuclear safety situation.

The development follows hydrogen blasts at both of the plant's two other reactors whose cores are also believed to have partially melted, occurring Saturday at the No. 1 reactor and Monday at the No. 3 reactor.

''A worrisome situation remains but I hope to take the lead in overcoming this crisis,'' Kan said of the nuclear power plant. ''I will take all measures so that damage will not expand.''

At the headquarters set up at the TEPCO head office, with TEPCO president and the economy, trade and industry minister serving as its deputy chiefs, Kan confronted TEPCO officials about their delay in reporting the initial blast.

Japan has asked the United States to provide more cooling equipment to help stabilize the plant, Gregory Jaczko, chairman of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, said in Washington. The NRC has already sent two technological experts and is fully supporting Japanese efforts, he said.

The No. 2 reactor automatically shut down after the magnitude 9.0 earthquake hit the region on Friday. Its reactor cooling function was lost on Monday and water levels rapidly dropped, fully exposing fuel rods for around two and a half hours from 6:30 p.m.

Seawater was injected and water levels were increased temporarily but late Monday night they started dropping, leading to full exposure of the rods again.

At 1:10 a.m. Tuesday, TEPCO opened some steam valves and resumed work to pump seawater and was considering opening more valves, according to the company.

==Kyodo