Plans are being drawn up to evacuate every British national in Japan amid mounting fears of a nuclear catastrophe. Thousands of Britons were last night warned to leave Tokyo and all other areas under threat of radiation poisoning. The Foreign Office is even chartering additional planes to ensure that all British citizens can leave the country as thousands of terrified passengers cram into Tokyo airport attempting to flee.It comes as the Japanese authorities resorted to dumping water on over-heating reactors at the Fukushima nuclear plant from helicopters in a desperate last-ditch attempt to stop a catastrophic meltdown. The advice to flee – echoed by other countries around the world – followed a meeting of the Cabinet’s emergency Cobra committee to discuss the meltdown-threatened Fukushima nuclear plant. It heightened suspicions that the crisis at the plant – already ranked the second-worst nuclear disaster after Chernobyl – is worse than the Japanese authorities have publicly let on. Yesterday ‘last-ditch’ efforts were continuing at Fukushima to prevent a catastrophe with a Japanese army helicopter dumping water onto troubled nuclear reactor. A CH-47 Chinook helicopter began dumping seawater on the damaged reactor of Unit 3 at the Fukushima complex at 9.48am local time, said defense ministry spokeswoman Kazumi Toyama. The aircraft dumped at least four loads on the reactor, though much of the water appeared to be dispersed in the air. The dumping was intended both to help cool the reactor and to replenish water in a pool holding spent fuel rods, Toyama said. The plant's owner, Tokyo Electric Power Co., said earlier that the pool was nearly empty, which might cause the rods to overheat. Last night an official at Japan's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency said that radiation levels at the plant had fallen steadily over the past 12 hours. However, ministers were due to hold further talks last night on whether an immediate evacuation from Japan should be considered. (Daily Mail)Thursday, 17 March 2011
Japanese drop giant waterbombs on stricken reactors as Foreign Office promises rescue charter flights to get Britons out of Tokyo
Plans are being drawn up to evacuate every British national in Japan amid mounting fears of a nuclear catastrophe. Thousands of Britons were last night warned to leave Tokyo and all other areas under threat of radiation poisoning. The Foreign Office is even chartering additional planes to ensure that all British citizens can leave the country as thousands of terrified passengers cram into Tokyo airport attempting to flee.It comes as the Japanese authorities resorted to dumping water on over-heating reactors at the Fukushima nuclear plant from helicopters in a desperate last-ditch attempt to stop a catastrophic meltdown. The advice to flee – echoed by other countries around the world – followed a meeting of the Cabinet’s emergency Cobra committee to discuss the meltdown-threatened Fukushima nuclear plant. It heightened suspicions that the crisis at the plant – already ranked the second-worst nuclear disaster after Chernobyl – is worse than the Japanese authorities have publicly let on. Yesterday ‘last-ditch’ efforts were continuing at Fukushima to prevent a catastrophe with a Japanese army helicopter dumping water onto troubled nuclear reactor. A CH-47 Chinook helicopter began dumping seawater on the damaged reactor of Unit 3 at the Fukushima complex at 9.48am local time, said defense ministry spokeswoman Kazumi Toyama. The aircraft dumped at least four loads on the reactor, though much of the water appeared to be dispersed in the air. The dumping was intended both to help cool the reactor and to replenish water in a pool holding spent fuel rods, Toyama said. The plant's owner, Tokyo Electric Power Co., said earlier that the pool was nearly empty, which might cause the rods to overheat. Last night an official at Japan's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency said that radiation levels at the plant had fallen steadily over the past 12 hours. However, ministers were due to hold further talks last night on whether an immediate evacuation from Japan should be considered. (Daily Mail)