地震と津波が日本の北東部沿岸を揺らした後、炉心溶融の恐れと周辺に住む２０万人の人々が避難するという現実に襲われ、日曜日に日本の政府は核による危機をなんとか抑止しようと賢明な努力を続けた。

核設備操作員は、一連の原子炉の中で、少なくとも、過熱する寸前の一機だけでも一定の温度を保つために苦戦していた。

枝野幸男官房長官は日曜日に、福島第一原子力発電所の部分的にメルトダウンを起こしている三号機が、１２日に起きた一号機と同じような水素爆発を起こす可能性があると伝えた。

枝野官房長官は、福島第一原子力発電所は、三号機の圧力を減らすように努力しているが、部分的なメルトダウンは避けられない状態だと述べた。

枝野官房長官によれば、「原子炉内を直接見ることができないので、はっきりしたことは言えないが、部分的なメルトダウンが起こっている可能性が予測される。」とレポーターに語った。

The president for Canadian Coalition for Nuclear Responsibility discusses the safety of Japan's nuclear reactors. He says patrolling nuclear reactors are an ongoing process to make sure there isn't a meltdown.

【More・・・】

Japanese authorities raced to control a nuclear crisis on Sunday as the threat of nuclear meltdowns and the reality of massive evacuations hovered over the country, after an earthquake and tsunami rocked its eastern coast.

Nuclear plant operators were fighting to maintain temperatures in a series of nuclear reactors, at least one of which was on the verge of overheating.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said Sunday that a hydrogen explosion could occur at Unit 3 of the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear complex, where the reactor could be melting down.

That would follow an explosion the day before in another unit at the same power plant, taking down the walls around Unit 1.

Edano told reporters Sunday that operators at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant have been trying to reduce pressure and heat inside Unit 3, but a partial meltdown in the unit is "highly possible."

"Because it's inside the reactor, we cannot directly check it, but we are taking measures on the assumption of the possible partial meltdown," he said.

Fears worsened through the day on Sunday as a nuclear facility elsewhere in the country was placed in a state of emergency, while another facility reported a failed cooling system in one of its reactors.

The UN's atomic watchdog said the Onagawa nuclear facility went into a state of emergency on Sunday after excessive radiation levels were recorded.

The Onagawa plant is located in the Miyagi prefecture, one of the areas hit hard by Friday's earthquake and tsunami.

Japan's nuclear agency said the Onagawa cooling systems are now functioning properly.

While the three reactor units at the Onagawa plant have reported being under control, radiation exceeding allowed levels has been detected in the area.

Tokyo's Kyodo News agency also reported that a cooling system pump stopped working at the Tokai Unit 2 nuclear power plant in the Ibaraki prefecture. The Japan Atomic Power Co. said, however, that a second pump continued to operate normally, as did the reactor.

While the possibility of radioactive contamination appeared to grow through the weekend, Jay Lehr, the science director for the Chicago-based Heartland Institute, said he wasn't concerned by the reactor failures.

"I am also not worried about a major disaster to the people in Japan, outside of a small amount of radiation," Lehr told CTV News Channel on Sunday.

"Japan is the most seismically active country that operates hugely on nuclear power. They build them for the worst-possible disaster. This is certainly one of them."

Of highest concern was the situation near the Fukushima Dai-ichi facility, where nearly 200,000 people have been evacuated over fears of radiation.

Officials haven't said how high the temperature has risen inside the troubled reactor. If it reaches 2,000 Celsius, the uranium fuel pellets inside the reactor's fuel rods will start to dissolve, the beginning of a meltdown.

A complete meltdown would release uranium and other toxic nuclear byproducts into the environment.

As work continues too cool down Unit 3, authorities are also trying to stop a meltdown in Unit 1. Saturday's explosion destroyed the building housing the reactor, but not the actual steel envelope encasing the reactor.

On Sunday it was unclear what was happening in the Unit 1 reactor, and if the fuel rods were melting. When asked, Edano said: "There is that possibility. We cannot confirm this because it is in the reactor. But we are dealing with it under that assumption."

Engineers were pumping in seawater to Unit 1 to control the overheating. International experts say seawater is a measure of last-resort.

Meanwhile, the cooling system at Fukushima Dai-ichi's Unit 2 has also failed, but is less affected in the crisis. Three other reactors at the facility are in a safe, shut-down state.

Japanese officials said they would institute rolling blackouts in Tokyo and other cities starting on Monday in order to manage a severe power shortage caused by the inoperable nuclear power plants. The affected plants are responsible for providing as much as 25 per cent of the country's power capacity.

Japan has a total of 55 nuclear reactors spread across 17 complexes across the country.

Evacuation zone grows

Until now, Japanese officials had been downplaying the danger at Fukushima, even while they spent Saturday increasing the size of the evacuation zone around the facility.

More than 180,000 people within a 20-kilometre radius around Dai-ichi have been evacuated, the International Atomic Energy Agency reported. As well, another 30,000 have also been evacuated near the Fukushima Daini (or Second) plant, 11 kilometres to the south, which has also lost its cooling functions.

Radiation was leaked into the air when steam pressure was released at the nuclear facility to help cool the systems. Officials had said the amount of radiation leaked did not pose health risks, although the assertion did little to ease public concern.

Up to 160 people who had been waiting for evacuation in the nearby town of Futabe, and 100 others evacuating by bus, might have been exposed to radiation, according to a spokesperson for Japan's nuclear agency. The severity of their exposure, or if it had reached dangerous levels, was not clear.

"First I was worried about the quake, Now I'm worried about radiation," Kenji Koshiba, a construction worker who lives near the plant, told The Associated Press from an evacuation centre.

Japanese authorities say they are making preparations to distribute iodine pills to residents in the area of both plants. The pills can help protect against thyroid cancer, since they inhibit the thyroid's absorption of radioactive iodine from the atmosphere.

With files from The Associated Press

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