Fears mount as Japan battles nuclear emergency - 2 partial meltdowns

[jpak]

http://news.brisbanetimes.com.au/breaking-news-world/fears-mount-as-japan-battles-nuclear-emergency-20110313-1bspo.html

Japan battled a nuclear emergency Sunday in which the government said two partial meltdowns may have taken place and radiation had escaped from reactors at a quake-damaged atomic power plant.

About 200,000 people have been evacuated from residential areas around the Fukushima No. 1 plant, 250 kilometres (120 miles) north of Tokyo, as global concern grows over the threat of a major disaster.

Japan's top government spokesman Yukio Edano said it was highly likely that a partial meltdown had occurred in one reactor of the Fukushima plant, and that authorities were working on the assumption that one may occur in another.

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