Japan Pulls Workers From Troubled Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Plant After Radiation Surge

Japan suspends operations to prevent a stricken nuclear plant, seen above, from melting down after radiation surge makes it too dangerous for workers, as rescuers search for victims of the quake and tsunami.

Japan Pulls Workers From Troubled Nuclear Plant After Radiation Surge

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2011/03/15/japanese-nuclear-panic-rises-agency-says-radiation-leaking-atmosphere/

Japan suspended operations to prevent the stricken Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant from melting down Wednesday after a surge in radiation made it too dangerous for workers to remain at the facility.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said work on dousing reactors with water was disrupted by the need to withdraw.

The country has ordered a nearby 140,000 people to seal themselves indoors after a series of explosions and fires at the plant. The latest fire, at the plant's No. 4 reactor, is under control, according to Tokyo Electric Power Co., the owner of the facility, which blamed it on an earlier fire that hadn't been fully extinguished. But Japan's nuclear agency was unable to confirm that the blaze had been put out, and clouds of white smoke were billowing from the reactor, according to live video footage of the plant.

The agency also reported that damage to the fuel rods at the No. 1 reactor were at 70 percent. Kyodo News added that 33 percent of the second reactor's fuel rods were also damaged.



March 15: People carry heat blankets as they leave a radiation emergency scanning center in the raun in Koriyama, Fukushima Prefecture, Japan, four days after a giant quake and tsunami struck the country's northeastern coast.