Nuclear Crisis Update

A quick summary of the nuclear crisis in Japan: The nuclear emergency following Friday's earthquake and tsunami has worsened, with the operators of the damaged Fukushima nuclear plant warning that they can't rule out a possible meltdown. The company says it's possible that cooling water at the number two reactor has evaporated, exposing the nuclear fuel rods. The BBC environment correspondent Richard Black says such an outcome would be very serious.

BBC environment analyst Roger Harrabin explains what has happened at the Fukushima plant: "The power plant is supposed to be earthquake-proof and shut down automatically in response to the quake," he says. "But this starved power from the stations' cooling systems. Then the back-up diesel cooling system also failed. Reactor number 1 overheated, and it is said that hydrogen released exploded, causing the concrete roof of the plant to blow off. Now that's been repeated at Number 3 reactor, Numbers 2 and 4 have problems with cooling."

"Some of the nuclear fuel may have partially melted down in the overheating," adds our correspondent. "But crucially the primary steel nuclear containment vessels are said to be intact. The authorities report no significant radiation leak, although some Japanese people may be disinclined to trust the authorities who have lied to them about previous nuclear accidents. It looks at the moment as though catastrophe may well be avoided, but the crisis is far from over."

Local media is reporting that water levels have fallen far enough to partly expose the fuel rods at Fukushima's Number 2 reactor - increasing the likelihood of overheating.

The operators of the damaged Fukushima nuclear plant say it's possible that cooling water at one of the reactors has evaporated, Reuters reports. The company says it can't rule out the possibility that the nuclear fuel rods in Number 2 reactor were now exposed and could be at risk of meltdown.

BBC