Officials today admitted that fuel rods in Unit Two of the Fukushima plant were temporarily exposed from their coolant - which raises the risk of a meltdown.
It follows a hydrogen explosion at the reactor in Unit Three of the power station earlier today, in which eleven workers were hurt by the blast that was felt 25 miles away.
The reactor at Unit One of Fukushima exploded on Saturday, blowing several walls away but engineers said the core was still contained.
Engineers have been fighting to keep the reactors under control after the tsunami knocked out emergency coolant systems on Friday.
Earlier engineers were frantically trying to cool radioactive materials at all the reactors with seawater but had halted the process, which resulted in a rise in radiation levels and pressure.
Plant managers knew an explosion was a possibility as they struggled to reduce pressure inside the reactor containment vessel in Unit Three, but apparently felt they had no choice if they wanted to avoid a complete meltdown.
In the end, the hydrogen in the released steam mixed with oxygen in the atmosphere and set off the blast, which was felt 25 miles away.
The plant's operator Tokyo Electric Company said radiation levels at the reactor were still within legal limits.
Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said the Unit Three reactor's inner containment vessel holding nuclear rods is intact, allaying some fears of the risk to the environment and public.
The government had warned that a further explosion was possible because of the build-up of hydrogen in the building housing the reactor.
More than 180,000 people have been evacuated from the area.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said Japanese authorities reported that radioactivity levels 'at the site boundary' of another nuclear power plant at Onagawa had returned to normal.
Earlier a state of emergency had been declared after the high levels of radiation were detected at the nuclear power complex.
Thousands of families have been evacuated and many more were yesterday being checked for radiation exposure as Japan began to take stock of what the prime minister labelled its ‘most severe crisis since World War II’ – when the U.S. dropped nuclear bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Tens of thousands are feared dead, with bodies being picked up from beaches along a 300-mile stretch of coastline.
Others are being gathered from the sea and thousands more are believed to lie buried deep in mud under the debris of homes and cars. At least 10,000 people – half the population of the port of Minami Sanriku – were unaccounted for and the town has been virtually wiped off the map.
Nearby Rikuzentakada was also swamped and destroyed by Friday’s tsunami, killing at least 400 people.
Hundreds of Britons – many of them English language teachers – are among the missing.
Some 100,000 troops and civil defence members, backed by ships and helicopters, yesterday began the mammoth task of clearing rubble and searching for survivors and bodies.
So many people died because when the nine-magnitude Pacific Ocean earthquake struck 80 miles off the coast of Sendai, warnings were issued that a tsunami would hit land in an hour.
But survivors said it struck in nine minutes.
There were warnings last night that strong aftershocks, with a magnitude of six or more, could be expected for at least another week – and Tokyo shuddered several times yesterday as a series of shocks struck the city.
But the gravest consequence of the earthquake and tsunami could yet be felt, as scientists frantically tried to control the threat of nuclear meltdown.
Men in white protective suits and masks swept Geiger counters over frightened survivors yesterday as nuclear experts around the world monitored the crippled and unstable Fukushima plant, 150 miles north of Tokyo.
Up to 200,000 people were evacuated from within a 12-mile radius of the plant, which remains the biggest threat.
Consequences of meltdown; this graphic shows how a full-scale of meltdown could affect the United States.
Fireball: A build-up of hydrogen in the ‘unit three' building of Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power complex ignites in a ball of fire, which can be seen for miles.
Plume of smoke: An enormous cloud rises from the blast site, dwarfing the power plant and raising fear that dangerous radiation has been released into atmosphere.
Extensive damage: Despite the massive explosion, the Japanese government said the treat of radioactive material being released was 'unlikely'.
Horrific memories: The towns destroyed by the tsunami look very similar to Hiroshima after the atomic bomb blast in 1945.
(News taken from www.dailymail.co.uk)
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