Reply #216: Japan declares emergencies at 2 nuclear plants

[CHIMO]

Japan has declared states of emergency for five nuclear reactors at two power plants following cooling systems failures that led to radiation escaping from one reactor.

The emergency declarations followed Friday's 8.9-magnitude earthquake off the country's northeast coast. The quake, the most powerful in Japan's recorded history, triggered a massive tsunami wave.

At the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in Onahama city, about 270 kilometres northeast of Tokyo, a power failure triggered a problem in a cooling system, causing radiation levels in a reactor to rise to 1,000 times normal.

Japan Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency official Ryohei Shiomi said a monitoring device outside the plant detected radiation that is eight times higher than normal.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2011/03/11/earthquake-japan-nuclear-reactor.html