Four dead as new tremor hits Japan disaster
zone
SENDAI, Japan: A powerful aftershock rocked Japan's
tsunami disaster zone, killing at least four and triggering new
concerns over nuclear power plants in a region still grappling with
an atomic emergency.
Electricity was cut across a huge area of northern
Japan, forcing cooling systems at three nuclear plants to switch to
emergency power and plunging more than 3.3 million households into
darkness late Thursday night.
At least one backup supply remained online at all
three plants, but the aftershock highlighted the potential risks of
nuclear generation in an earthquake zone amid a battle to stabilise
reactors at tsunami-hit Fukushima.
Officials and reports said four people had been killed by the 7.1
magnitude tremor, which struck off the coast near Sendai -- one of
the most powerful to hit Japan since the country's worst post-war
disaster four weeks ago.
Thursday's quake swayed buildings in the capital Tokyo, more than
300 kilometres away from the epicentre, and generated unease even
well away from the coast.
In the town of Kitakami, northwest of the epicentre, an AFP
reporter witnessed queues forming at convenience stores as people
tried to stock up anew on food, water and batteries.
"It was so scary," said Kazuyuki Shiroiwa, who had been to four
shops in central Kitakami in a vain effort to find batteries.
"The midnight quake reminded me of the fear I felt a month ago," he
said. "I'm fed up with earthquakes. No more quakes, please."
Workers battling to control the stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear
plant on the northeast coast were ordered to evacuate temporarily
but have since returned, plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co.
(TEPCO) said.
The evacuation order came less than 24 hours after the workers
began pumping nitrogen, an inert gas, into reactor No. 1, where
engineers were concerned a build-up of hydrogen might react with
oxygen to cause an explosion.
Work at the plant was remotely controlled and had continued
uninterrupted, the company said.
The loss of external power sources at Fukushima in the March 11
tsunami left reactor cores heating up uncontrollably, resulting in
the world's worst nuclear emergency since Chernobyl 25 years
ago.
The crippled plant has leaked radiation which has made its way into
tap water and farm produce, sparking food export bans covering a
large area.
Some highly radioactive water has leaked into the Pacific Ocean and
this week TEPCO began dumping 11,500 tonnes of low-level
radioactive water from the plant into the sea to free up urgently
needed storage space.
The move has angered the Japanese fishing industry and raised
concerns in neighbouring countries including China, which on Friday
urged Tokyo to ensure the marine environment was protected.
The nuclear agency said Thursday's quake had knocked out some
external power sources used for cooling at plants in Onagawa in
Miyagi prefecture and at Rokkasho and Higashidori in Aomori
prefecture.
But at least one emergency power source remained operational at
each, and there was no indication that the loss of regular power
was causing a problem.
Operator Tohoku Electric Power said some water overflowed from
pools housing spent fuel at the Onagawa plant and spilled onto the
floor, but that radiation levels remained normal.
The Onagawa plant was already in cold shut-down, while the
Higashidori plant's only reactor was under maintenance and the
Rokkasho plant is a reprocessing facility.
A spokesman for the plant's operator, Tohoku-Electric Power Co,
said radiation levels were still "far below the level that would
require us to report to authorities".
Hundreds of aftershocks have rocked Japan since the 9.0 magnitude
quake last month and the resulting tsunami, which killed more than
12,600 people and left around 15,000 unaccounted for.
March's record quake has exacted a heavy cost on the world's number
three economy, and rippled across industries worldwide as parts
supplied from Japan run short.
But auto giant Toyota Friday announced it would be resuming
operations at all of its Japanese assembly plants on April
18.
Japan said it would ease shipping restrictions on milk and some
vegetables from near the Fukushima plant, while New Delhi
overturned a blanket ban on importing Japanese produce.
Several countries, including China, Taiwan, Singapore and the
United States, have banned shipments of produce from certain
Japanese prefectures near the plant, but India had been the first
to announce a complete ban.
-AFP/ac
