Japan struggled on Monday to avert a nuclear disaster and care for millions of people without power or water, three days after an earthquake and tsunami killed an estimated 10,000 people or more in the nation's darkest hour since World War Two.
An explosion at Japan's stricken Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant has caused further damage to the Unit 2 reactor, while a fire has broken out at Unit 4, worsening an already harrowing crisis and forcing workers to leave the site.
After two hydrogen explosions in three days at the Fukushima Daiichi plant, a third reactor has lost its ability to cool. Japanese officials admitted that the fuel rods on unit 2 were fully explosed for a period of time, a dangerous development in the effort to stop the reactor from melting down.
The fuel rods in the No 2 reactor at a quake-damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant located 240 kilometres north of Tokyo are again "fully exposed" officials said early on Tuesday morning Japan time after attempts to pump more seawater into the core of the reactor to cool down the uranium fuel rods were thwarted by massive pressure build ups.
The No.3 nuclear reactor of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant is seen burning after a blast following an earthquake and tsunami in this handout satellite image taken March 14, 2011. The Fukushima nuclear complex, 240 km (150 miles) north of Tokyo, has already seen explosions at two of its reactors on Saturday (reactor No.1) and on Monday (reactor No.3), which sent a huge plume of smoke billowing above the plant, just days after a devastating earthquake and tsunami that killed at least 10,000 people. Reactors No.1 to No.4 can be seen from bottom to top.
It seems like any and all stocks related to nuclear energy have been marked with the scarlet letter. Shunned by investors on Monday on fears that the nuclear crisis going on in Japan, as reactors explode and melt down after the horrendous earthquake and ensuing tsunami damaged cooling capacities, stocks from uranium miners to generator designers to plant builders have topped the charts for biggest losers. In the long run, though, the prospects for the industry look sweet. Buying opportunity?
“At approximately 11:01am, an explosion followed by white smoke occurred at the reactor building of Unit 3. It was believed to be a hydrogen explosion,” reported the Tokyo Electric Power Company, which operates the Fukushima plant which has world’s attention since a massive 9.0-scale earthquake battered Japan on Friday. Bringing back the ghosts of Chernobyl and Three Mile Island, investors have decided to shun nuclear energy on fears that the current accident could put a stain on what appeared to be a booming trend in clean energy.
ADDS THAT PHOTO SHOWS THE FUKUSHIMA DAI-ICHI NUCLEAR COMPLEX ** This March 12, 2011 photo provided by GeoEye shows the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear complex in Japan. Japan's nuclear crisis intensified Sunday as authorities raced to combat the threat of multiple reactor meltdowns and more than 180,000 people evacuated the quake- and tsunami-savaged northeastern coast where fears spread over possible radioactive contamination. Nuclear plant operators were frantically trying to keep temperatures down in a series of nuclear reactors — including one where officials feared a partial meltdown could be happening Sunday — to prevent the disaster from growing worse. But hours after officials announced the latest dangers to face the troubled Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear complex, including the possibility of a second explosion in two days, there were few details about what was being done to bring the situation under control
0 comments:
Posting Komentar