JAPAN: PM says nuclear plants causing hardest hardship since after WWII

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12.30 Japanese PM Naoto Kan says "This earthquake and tsunami and also the situation concerning the nuclear power stations are perhaps the hardest hardship that we have experienced after World War Two, within these fifty years. Whether we as Japanese people can overcome these hardships, that is dependent on each of us as Japanese citizens."

12.25 Japanese officials say there is risk of a second explosion at the quake-hit Fukushima power station. However, chief cabinet secretary Yukio Edano said the facility could withstand the impact and the nuclear reactor itself would not be damaged. Technicians are battling to cool reactor 3 following a blast at the building housing reactor 1 on Saturday.

11.30 Police have warned that the death toll in tsunami-hit Miyagi prefecture alone could exceed 10,000. Miyagi includes the port of Minamisanriku which was mostly swept away by the tsunami. It's been reported that roads to the town outside Minamisanriku are blocked and emergency workers are finding bodies amid piles of debris

19:56 News agencies reported that a powerful explosion has hit a nuclear power station in north-eastern Japan which was badly damaged in Friday's devastating earthquake and tsunami.

A building housing a reactor was destroyed, but the authorities said the reactor itself was intact inside its steel container.

The Japanese government has sought to play down fears of a meltdown at the Fukushima plant.

It says radiation levels around the stricken plant have now fallen.

14:33 Around 10,000 people are unnacounted for in the Japanese port town of Minamisanriku in Miyagi Prefecture, Japan's public broadcaster NHK is reporting, following Friday's huge earthquake.

13:44 Japan's Premier Naoto Kan on Saturday urged calm among people living near a nuclear power plant hit by an explosion and vowed the government would do its best to protect public health. "By taking firm measures, we will do our best not to have even a single person suffer from health problems," the centre-left premier said, after tens of thousands of residents were evacuated from around the Fukushima No. 1 plant north of Tokyo.

"From the bottom of my heart, I would like everybody to listen to the government and to media reports and to act calmly," he said in a televised press conference on the quake and tsunami calamity.

13:23 Japan's Prime Minister Naoto Kan says the massive earthquake and tsunami that devastated vast areas of Japan and shocked the world was an "unprecedented national disaster".

"I want the people to overcome this quake, which must be called an unprecedented national disaster, by utilising the strengths of each of you, together with the utmost efforts of the government and the related agencies that it supports," Kan said in a televised address to the nation.

12:53 The operator of a stricken nuclear plant north of Tokyo said a reactor container was not damaged despite a large explosion at the plant, Japan's chief cabinet secretary said.  Yukio Edano added that radiation levels near the Fukushima plant had fallen after the blast, amid fears of a possible nuclear meltdown following a devastating earthquake and tsunami Friday.

12:35 Tsunami waves from Japan's huge quake have killed at least one person and sparked mass evacuations on the American continent, but failed to inflict major damage, my colleagues in Los Angeles report.

12:15 Japan's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency are saying serious damage to the stricken Fukushima No. 1 reactor container was unlikely despite a large explosion at the plant north of Tokyo, Kyodo News agency is reporting.

11:46 Japan's Self Defence Forces say troops have found 300 to 400 bodies in the coastal city of Rikuzentakata, which was virtually wiped out by a massive tsunami, broadcaster NHK reports.

11:32 The evacuation radius at the damaged nuclear plant in northeastern Japan has been widened to 20 km (12 miles), the public broadcaster NHK is reporting.

11:22 Nuclear authorities had earlier warned that the Fukushima No. 1 plant, located about 250 kilometres (160 miles) northeast of Tokyo, an urban area of 30 million people, "may be experiencing a nuclear meltdown", my colleagues are reporting from Tokyo.

11:14 Malta Foreign Ministry spokesman says that it managed to contact 16 Maltese that are resident in Japan and three other  Maltese nationals who were travelling to Japan on business. "All are well and have been in communication with their families in Malta," he said.

10:44 One of the four buildings at the damaged Fukushima I nuclear plant has been destroyed in an apparent explosion, Japan's NHK broadcaster reported Saturday.

Witnesses heard the sound of an explosion and saw white smoke emerging from the plant, NHK reported. The cause was not known. Tokyo Electric Power Co, the plant's operator, said four people had been injured, according to the Kyodo news agency.

Technicians had been working at releasing pressure from the plant's reactors to avert a meltdown of the reactors.

Increased levels of radiation had been detected in the area of the power plant following Friday's earthquake.

Radioactive caesium has been detected in the vicinity of the damaged nuclear plant in north-eastern Japan, Kyodo news reported, quoting the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency.

The presence of the substance is an indication of a meltdown.

Earlier, authorities extended the evacuation zone to residents living within 10 km of the Fukushima Daiichi plant, also known as Fukushima I, where the cooling system experienced troubles Friday.

09:42 An explosion has reportedly been heard and plumes of white smoke seen at an earthquake-hit nuclear plant in Japan - amid fears of a possible meltdown. Japanese news agencies reported the blast had taken place at Fukushima Number 1 nuclear power plant, where radioactivity was 20 times the normal level.

Japan's Nuclear Safety Commission said the site, which is 150 miles (240km) north of capital Tokyo, may be experiencing meltdown. It is one of two nuclear power stations in Fukushima where emergencies had already been declared due to cooling problems.

Radioactive steam has been released to reduce rising pressure in the plants and the country's prime minister has ordered thousands of people living within six miles to leave the area. Ryohei Shiomi, of Japan's nuclear safety commission, said officials were checking whether a meltdown had taken place at the Daiichi power plant. He said that, even if there was a meltdown, it would not affect humans within a six-mile radius.

09:33 Japan TV channel is warning people to stay indoors near the nuclear plant.

09:22 NHK is reporting that the walls and roof of the quake-damaged nuclear plant have been destroyed in a blast

09:13 NHK is reporting that several workers have been injured in a blast at the quake-hit nuclear plant.

09:10 Television is now reporting that radioactivity at the quake-hit nuclear plant is 20 times normal level

09:02 Japanese television footage is showing smoke billowing from the Fukushima No.1 nuclear plant

08:50 Jiji Press is reporting that an explosion was heard and white smoke was seen at the quake-hit Japan nuclear plant

08:46 NHK quotes Tokyo University professor Naoto Sekimura as saying that "only a fraction of the fuel may have melted but the reactor had already been stopped and is being cooled. I urge residents to act calmly."

08:30 Public broadcaster NHK quoted the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency as saying that metal tubes, called 'fuel cladding', which contain uranium fuel may have melted.

08:15 A TEPCO spokesman tells AFP that "we believe the reactor is not melting down or cracking. We are trying to raise the water level." Kyodo News agency moments later said radioactive caesium had been detected near Fukushima plant, citing the nuclear safety commission.

08:10 Jiji Press says parts of the reactor's nuclear fuel rods were briefly exposed to the air after cooling water levels dropped through evaporation, and a fire engine was pumping water into the reactor. The water levels are recovering, said operator Tokyo Electric Power, according to Jiji.

08:07 Japanese quake-hit nuclear power plant Fukushima No. 1, about 250 kilometres northeast of Tokyo, "may be experiencing nuclear meltdown", Kyodo and Jiji news report.

08:04 The defence ministry says about 1,800 homes in Minami Soma, Fukushima prefecture, were destroyed, while in Sendai authorities said 1,200 houses were toppled by the tsunami.

07:40 Thousands more homes were destroyed in a string of coastal towns -- including Ofunato, which on Friday reported 300 houses collapsed or swept away.

Earlier

Japanese authorities announced last night that they will release slightly radioactive vapour to ease pressure at nuclear reactor whose cooling system failed.

The failure occurred after a power outage caused by Friday's massive earthquake off northeastern Japan.

Japan's nuclear safety agency says pressure inside one of six boiling water reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi plant had risen to 1.5 times the level considered normal.

The agency said the radioactive element in the vapor that will be released would not affect the environment or human health.

The massive earthquake that shook Japan caused a power outage that disabled a nuclear reactor's cooling system, triggering evacuation orders for about 3,000 residents as the government declared its first-ever state of emergency at a nuclear plant.

Japan's nuclear safety agency said pressure inside one of six boiling water reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi plant had risen to 1.5 times the level considered normal. To reduce the pressure, slightly radioactive vapor may be released. The agency said the radioactive element in the vapor would not affect the environment or human health.

After the quake triggered a power outage, a backup generator also failed and the cooling system was unable to supply water to cool the 460-megawatt No. 1 reactor, though at least one backup cooling system is being used. The reactor core remains hot even after a shutdown.

The agency said plant workers are scrambling to restore cooling water supply at the plant but there is no prospect for immediate success.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said the 40-year-old plant was not leaking radiation. The plant is in Onahama city, about 170 miles (270 kilometers) northeast of Tokyo.

If the outage in the cooling system persists, eventually radiation could leak out into the environment, and, in the worst case, could cause a reactor meltdown, a nuclear safety agency official said on condition of anonymity, citing sensitivity of the issue.

Another official at the nuclear safety agency, Yuji Kakizaki, said that plant workers were cooling the reactor with a secondary cooling system, which is not as effective as the regular cooling method.

Kakizaki said officials have confirmed that the emergency cooling system - the last-ditch cooling measure to prevent the reactor from the meltdown - is intact and could kick in if needed.

"That's as a last resort, and we have not reached that stage yet," Kakizaki added.

Japan's nuclear safety agency said the evacuation, ordered by the local government of Fukushima, affects at least 2,800 people. Edano said residents were told to stay at least two miles (three kilometers) from the plant and to stay inside buildings.

He said both the state of emergency and evacuation order are meant to be a precaution.

"We launched the measure so we can be fully prepared for the worst scenario," he said. "We are using all our might to deal with the situation."

Defense Ministry official Ippo Maeyama said the ministry has dispatched dozens of troops trained for chemical disasters to the Fukushima plant in case of a radiation leak, along with four vehicles designed for use in atomic, biological and chemical warfare.

High-pressure pumps can temporarily cool a reactor in this state with battery power, even when electricity is down, according to Arnold Gundersen, a nuclear engineer who used to work in the U.S. nuclear industry. Batteries would go dead within hours but could be replaced.

It was not immediately clear how many of the site's six reactors were affected by the cooling problem.