Reply #59: Japan Hit by Aftershock; Workers Evacuated at Nuclear Plant

[ZombieHorde]

Source: Bloomberg

April 8 (Bloomberg) -- Japan was shaken by the biggest aftershock since the day of the March 11 earthquake, leaving two dead and prompting the operator of a stricken nuclear plant to evacuate workers trying to cool radioactive fuel.

The magnitude-7.1 temblor struck at 11:32 p.m. local time yesterday near the epicenter of last month’s quake, the biggest on record in Japan, the U.S. Geological Survey reported on its website. No unusual conditions were observed at the Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear station north of Tokyo, according to statements from Tokyo Electric Power Co. and Japan’s Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency.

“Indications of new leakage or a change in radiation levels will be the only way they’ll tell if there’s further damage,” Murray Jennix, a nuclear engineer who specialized in radioactive containment leaks and teaches at San Diego State University, said in a telephone interview. “You’ve got cracks that could have been made bigger.”

More than 90 people were injured in the latest quake, the Fire and Disaster Management Agency said, as more than 3.6 million households lost power. Tokyo Electric, the operator of the Fukushima plant 220 kilometers (137 miles) from Tokyo, evacuated 15 workers who were pumping nitrogen into the No. 1 reactor to prevent hydrogen explosions of the type that damaged radiation containment buildings last month.

Read more: http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-04-08/japan-hit-by-aftershock-workers-evacuated-at-nuclear-plant.html