最近更新日本地震新闻英文版.doc

Content
Japan Says 2nd Reactor May Have Ruptured With Radioactive Release 1
Last Defense at Troubled Reactors: 50 Japanese Workers 6
In Remote Towns, Survivors Tell of a Wave’s Power 10
Japanese Stocks Rebound After Big Sell-Off 13
Certainties of Modern Life Upended in Japan 15
Precautions Should Limit Health Problems From Nuclear Plant’s Radiation 19
Japan Says 2nd Reactor May Have Ruptured With Radioactive Release
Tokyo Electric Power, via Kyodo News, via Associated Press
At the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, reactors No. 3, left, and No. 4, center, have been damaged.
By HIROKO TABUCHI and KEITH BRADSHER
Published: March 15, 2011
TOKYO — Japan’s nuclear crisis intensified again Wednesday, with Japanese authorities announcing that a containment vessel in a second reactor unit at the stricken Fukushima Daiichi plant in northeastern Japan may have ruptured and appeared to be releasing radioactive steam. That would be the second vessel to promised in two days.
The vessel had appeared to be the last fully intact line of defense against large-scale releases of radioactive materials, but it was not clear how serious the possible breach might be.
The announcement came after Japanese broadcasters showed live footage of thick plumes of steam rising above the plant.
Yukio Edano, the chief secretary, said the government believed the steam ing from the No. 3 reactor, where an explosion on Monday blew out part of the building surrounding the containment vessel.
The reactor has three layers of protection: that building; the containment vessel, and the metal cladding around fuel rods, which are inside the reactor. The government has said that those rods at the No. 3 reactor were likely already damaged.
Earlier in the morning, pany that runs the plant reported that a fire was burning at a different reactor, just hours after officials said flames that erupted Tuesday had been doused.
A government official at Japan’s nuclear regulatory agency said that flames an