weather forecasters are saying that winds could shift toward the west by Friday, Tokyo is what, 160 miles away? 400 square miles around Chernobyl are still uninhabitable.
weather forecasters are saying that winds could shift toward the west by Friday, Tokyo is what, 160 miles away?
Chinese government has decided to evacuate thousands of its citizens from the areas threatened by rising radiations spewed from a heavily-damaged nuclear power plant north of Tokyo.
The Foreign Ministry has directed China's embassy in Japan to organize an orderly evacuation of Chinese nationals "due to the seriousness of and uncertainty surrounding the accident at the Fukushima nuclear plant."
The embassy has been working hard to rescue and help Chinese citizens affected by last Friday's massive earthquake and resulting tsunamis, a notice on its website said Tuesday.
"We hope our compatriots in the worst-hit disaster areas remain calm, listen to instructions, understand and cooperate with the evacuation operation," the statement said.
Early Wedneday, another fire broke out at the No 4 nuclear reactor at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear complex, a day after the power plant emitted a burst of radiation that panicked an already edgy Japan and left Tokyo authorities struggling to contain a spiraling crisis caused by last Friday's earthquake and tsunami.
The outer housing of the containment vessel at the No 4 reactor erupted in flames early Wednesday, said Hajimi Motujuku, a spokesman for the plant's operator, Tokyo Electric Power Co.
On Tuesday, a fire broke out in the same reactor's fuel storage pond — an area where used nuclear fuel is kept cool — causing radioactivity to be released into the atmosphere. Tokyo Electric Power said the new blaze erupted because the initial fire had not been fully extinguished.
The Chinese embassy in Tokyo and its consulates in Niigata are sending buses to Miyagi, Fukushima, Ibaraki and Iwate prefectures, areas heavily battered by the earthquake and tsunamis, to pick up Chinese nationals.
Earlier Tuesday, the Japanese government said levels of radiation released by damaged reactors at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant were high enough to threaten human health.
In a nationally televised address Tuesday morning following an emergency cabinet meeting, Prime Minister Naoto Kan said that radiation has spread from the crippled Fukushima Daiichi power plant. "The level seems very high, and there is still a very high risk of more radiation coming out," Kan said.
Chinese diplomats were visiting the areas to assist Japanese officials, said Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Jinag Yu in Beijing.
Meanwhile, China's Ministry of Commerce said there had been no contact with 261 Chinese people in Japan's quake-hit regions as of 10 am Tuesday. The ministry reminded Chinese companies to verify the situation of their workers and trainees in Japan.
Air China canceled three flights to Tokyo Tuesday where planes would have had to stay in Japan overnight. There was concern among the airline managers that the planes' safety couldn't be guaranteed in the event of any powerful aftershocks.
It canceled a flight from Shanghai to Tokyo's Narita Airport and two flights from Beijing to Narita and Tokyo's Haneda Airport.
But the Beijing-based carrier said that it is still operating 30 flights between China and Japan daily.
China Eastern Airlines said it had suspended flights to Fukushima but its other flights, 50 a day, are operating normally. China Southern Airlines said its flights to Tokyo had resumed on Tuesday.
News networks now confirming that efforts to cool the remaining reactors have ended.
I suppose Mad Dog was right all along: this is trivial stuff and easily repaired and everyone is now going to take a long vacation based on their hard effort the past few days.
We are saved. It is apparent the whole world can go back to normal now; thanks Mad Dog for all you have done to ensure we didn't panic or something silly beyond making a few concerned posts about breathing/drinking cessium that is aire borne or water bound.
To use a concept of an old saying, "China syndrome" ... this could be USA syndrome ... the idea: the overheated radioactive core will melt all the way to someplace in the USA on the other side of the Earth.
