15.03.2011, 12:10 3433

Fire at nuclear plant in Japan extinguished

Fire in a reactor at a nuclear power plant in the northeastern Japan has been extinguished, Japan's nuclear safety agency informed, Kazakhstan Today reports.

Almaty. March 15. Kazakhstan Today - Fire in a reactor at a nuclear power plant in the northeastern Japan has been extinguished, Japan's nuclear safety agency informed, Kazakhstan Today reports.

Japan's nuclear safety agency says a fire in a reactor at a crippled nuclear power plant in tsunami-ravaged northeastern Japan has been extinguished, The Daily Telegraph reported.

The fire broke out today at the Fukushima No.1 plant in one of the hardest-hit provinces in Friday's massive earthquake and tsunami.

Radiation is meanwhile spewing from the plant in a dramatic escalation of the four-day-old catastrophe, forcing the government to tell people nearby to stay indoors to avoid exposure.

In a nationally televised statement, Prime Minister Naoto Kan said radiation had spread from four damaged reactors at the plant, telling people living within 30km of the complex to stay indoors to avoid radiation sickness.

A fourth reactor was on fire and there were fears that the steel containment vessel protecting the plant's nuclear core had been breached - the worst-case scenario in such situations, NewYork DailyNews informs.

More than 180,000 people living in a 12-mile radius of the Fukushima Daiichi plant 150 miles north of Tokyo had already been evacuated over the weekend.

Officials evacuated staff plant after reactor No. 2 exploded - the third blast there since Saturday.

A heroic team of 50 workers stayed behind to continue trying to cool the reactors with seawater and avert large-scale meltdown.

"They are putting themselves in a very dangerous situation," Kan said.

Tokyo Electric said a reading of 8,217 microsieverts per hour of radiation was taken at the plant's gates after the explosion - a fourfold increase from 40 minutes earlier.

The average background radiation a person absorbs all year is 3,100 microsieverts, according to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

The government warned reporters not to "physically approach" the damaged plant.

Japan asked the United States for help after reactor No. 3 blew earlier in the day, injuring 11 workers. The blast was so large it could be felt 25 miles away.

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