Things are rapidly disintegrating at the Fukushima power plant.
FUKUSHIMA, Japan (Reuters) - Japan's prime minister said on Tuesday that radioactive levels had become high around an earthquake-stricken nuclear power plant after an explosion there, and there was a risk of radiation leaking into the atmosphere.
Naoto Kan urged people within 30 km (18 miles) of the facility north of Tokyo to remain indoors and the French embassy in the capital warned in an advisory that a low level of radioactive wind could reach Tokyo within 10 hours.
Tuesday's explosion was the third at the plant since it was damaged in last Friday's massive earthquake and tsunami.
I don't even know what to say at this point. In addition to the winds carrying the radiation to Tokyo, I have an awful feeling that we'll be frantically watching Pacific Ocean winds very, very soon.
Japan faced the likelihood of a catastrophic nuclear accident Tuesday morning, as an explosion at the most crippled of three reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station damaged its crucial steel containment structure, emergency workers were withdrawn from the plant, and much larger emissions of radioactive materials appeared immiment, according to official statements and industry executives informed about the developments. [...]
“It’s way past Three Mile Island already,” said Frank von Hippel, a physicist and professor at Princeton. “The biggest risk now is that the core really melts down and you have a steam explosion.”