Japan Nuclear Explosion

• Helicopters drop seawater on stricken reactor in Japan

  Military helicopters were on Thursday morning dumping seawater on a stricken nuclear reactor in north-eastern Japan to cool overheated fuel rods inside its core.Japanese news agency NHK broadcast pictures of a helicopter dropping a load of water on Unit 3, one of six reactors at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant.A defence ministry spokeswo...

• Helicopter mission to cool down reactors aborted

  Japan aborted a mission to use a helicopter to cool down reactor number 3 at the crippled Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant. Earlier on Wednesday morning, two air force helicopters had lifted off from an air base near Sendai, carrying large buckets of water. However, the plan was changed as the radiation levels were too high for the pilots to f...

• Spent fuel rods in Japanese nuclear reactors a long-term risk

  Even as workers race to prevent the radioactive cores of the damaged nuclear reactors in Japan from melting down, concerns are growing that nearby pools holding spent fuel rods could pose an even greater danger. The pools, which sit on the top level of the reactor buildings and keep spent fuel submerged in water, have lost their cooling systems and...

• Flight ban over Fukushima nuclear plant

  Japan has banned flights within a 30-km range of the Fukushima nuclear plant amid radiation fears due to a series of explosions at the facility on Tuesday, Xinhua reported.The ban by the transport ministry excludes aircraft engaged in search and rescue operations. It is not expected to have a major impact on scheduled commercial flights, Xinhua cit...

• Residents evacuated from nuclear risk areas

  Radiation continued to leak on Tuesday from a crippled nuclear plant in tsunami-ravaged northeastern Japan after a third reactor was rocked by an explosion early on Tuesday and a fourth caught fire in a dramatic escalation of the 4-day-old catastrophe. Evacuees from areas around the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant took refuge in the nearby c...

• 'Japan will rise again'

  Although the situation in Japan continues to be worrisome in the nuclear aftermath of the earthquake fed tsunami, city-based Japanese nationals hope that the country would soon get back on its feet. For 73 year-old Teruko Matsuoka, a Bangalore-based Japanese homemaker, this is not the first disaster that the country has experienced. During her chil...

• Japan nuclear crisis: Foreign nationals, journalists asked to leave Sendai

  All foreign nationals, journalists have been asked by their respective governments to leave Sendai in Japan. The directive comes after a third explosion at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. The explosion reportedly damaged the containment valve of the reactor, thereby raising concerns about increased radioactivity in the air.NDTV crew too ...

• Japanese PM asks people to stay indoors

  Radiation is spewing from damaged reactors at a crippled nuclear power plant in tsunami-ravaged northeastern Japan in a dramatic escalation of the 4-day-old catastrophe. The Japanese Prime Minister has warned residents to stay inside or risk getting radiation sickness.Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said on Tuesday that a fourth reactor at the ...

• Tokyo airports packed as passengers queue to leave Japan

  Hundreds of foreigners continued to leave Japan on Monday amid heightened fears over the safety of the country's nuclear plants.Long queues could be seen at the departure terminal of the Haneda Airport.French Chef Christine Pontoizeau, who works in Japan said, "My family and friends are really worried so I'm trying to figure out how to go back to F...

• Tokyo residents suffer shortage of supplies

  Panic buying, commuter chaos and fears of nuclear contamination are rattling Tokyo residents in the wake of the nation's earthquake disaster.Long queues formed at railway stations, shops and petrol stations on Monday, as a second explosion at a nuclear power plant further unnerved residents. At Tokyo's Chofu station, commuters queued patiently to c...

• Third reactor loses cooling at Japan nuclear plant

  The operator of a quake-stricken nuclear power plant in northeastern Japan says a third reactor has lost its cooling capacity, which could lead to overheating and an explosion similar to two blasts at its other reactors.Tokyo Electric Power Co. official Takako Kitajima said Monday that plant workers were preparing to inject seawater into the Fukush...

• Survivors return to confront all that was lost

  One couple rode out the tsunami on top of an irrigation tower, crammed in with three other people. A man had to abandon his car in a field and run for it. Another couple simply got lucky, riding out the torrents in their house, one of the few in a swath of destruction that inexplicably held together. They began streaming back to this stricken rice ...

• Japan: Another explosion at Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant

  Tokyo Electric Power Co. says three workers have been injured and seven are missing after an explosion at the stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.Japan's chief cabinet secretary says a hydrogen explosion occurred Monday at the facility's Unit 3. The blast was similar to an earlier one at a different unit at the facility.Yukio Edano says people...