SOMA, Japan - The second hydrogen explosion in three days has shaken Japan devastated by Dai-ichi Fukushima nuclear power plant on Monday, sending a huge tower of smoke into the air and injuring 11 workers. A few hours later, the U.S. said it had moved its forces into the sea away from the plant after the detection of low levels of radioactive contamination.
The aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan was about 100 miles (160 kilometers) when it detects the radiation, which U.S. officials said it was almost the same as the normal one-month exposure to natural background radiation in the environment.
It was not clear if radiation had escaped during the explosion Monday. The explosion was felt 25 miles (40 kilometers), but the operator said radiation levels in the reactor is still in the act.
The explosion at the plant unit 3 by the authorities desperately trying to cool off after a system failure following the massive earthquake and tsunami on Friday, triggered an order for hundreds of people to stay inside, said Chief of Staff Yukio Edano. The two disasters killed at least 10,000 people died.
Operators has seen an explosion was a possibility, as they struggled to reduce the pressure in the reactor containment vessel, but apparently felt they had no other choice if they wanted to avoid a complete collapse. Ultimately, hydrogen is mixed with the steam released with oxygen in the atmosphere and trigger the explosion.
Tokyo Electric Power Co., which operates the plant, said the radiation level of the block 3 was well below levels where a nuclear operator must report to the government.
A similar explosion occurred Saturday in a unit of the plant, injuring four workers and causing mass evacuations.
Shortly after the explosion on Monday, Tokyo Electric has warned that it lost its ability to cool Unit 2 Takako Kitajima, an official of the company said the workers were preparing to inject seawater into the device to cool the reactor, a move that could lead to an explosion there.
Unit 3 rods of the nuclear reactor vessel internal containment remained intact, said Edan, allay the fears of risk to the environment and the public. Television footage of the building that houses the reactor appeared to show similar damage to the explosion on Saturday, with the outer walls cut, leaving only a skeleton.
More than 180,000 people have evacuated the area in recent days, and up to 160 may have been exposed to radiation - add the misery of those already affected by individual disasters.
While Japan has actively prepared for years by major earthquakes, exercise capacity and performance, the impact of the tsunami - which came so quickly that few people have managed to escape to higher ground - has been severe.
On Monday, officials are clearly overwhelmed by the enormity of the crisis, with millions of people who spent three nights without water, food or heating to temperatures near freezing. At least 1.4 million homes were without water since the earthquake and some 1.9 million homes were without electricity.
Officials of a devastated city, said there was a shortage of body bags.
Officials have declared a state of emergency in six where Fukushima reactor disaster stunned Friday two main cooling systems and backup generators. Three are at Dai-ichi and three near the complex Fukushima Daini.
More attention, however, was based on the Dai-ichi units 1 and 3, where operators funnel seawater as a last resort to cool the reactors. A total collapse - the radioactive core meltdown - could release radioactive contaminants in the environment and pose serious risks to health in general.
Edan said nothing Fukushima reactor was close to that point, and was sure to avoid the worst scenarios.
International scientists say there are serious dangers, but little risk of a Chernobyl-style disaster. Chernobyl, they said, had no outside containment.
"The probability that there will be a great fire, like Chernobyl or a larger version of the environment as in Chernobyl, I think it is fundamentally impossible," said James F. Stubbins, professor of nuclear energy at the University of Illinois.
But despite official assurances, many residents have expressed fear of the situation.
"At first I was worried about the earthquake," said Kenji Koshiba, a construction worker who lives near the plant. "Now I am worried about radiation." He spoke to an emergency center in Koriyama, about 40 miles (60 kilometers) from the most troubled reactors and 125 miles (190 kilometers) north of Tokyo.
In total, more than 1,500 people have been scanned for radiation in the region, officials said.
UN nuclear agency said on Sunday the state of emergency was declared in another complex, the Onagawa power plant, while larger allowable radiation was measured there. He said that Japan has announced that all three of these reactors was checked.
Four nuclear complex in northern Japan has reported damage of the earthquake or tsunami.
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