Onagawa, Japan - Second state of emergency declared after radiation recorded

A STATE of emergency has been declared at a Japanese nuclear facility at Onagawa after excessive radiation levels were recorded there following Friday's earthquake, the UN atomic watchdog.
The news came as the country was already battling a feared meltdown of two reactors at the ageing Fukushima atomic plant.


An explosion at the Fukushima atomic plant blew apart the building housing its No 1 reactor on Saturday, a day after the biggest quake ever recorded in Japan unleashed a monster 10m tsunami.
The atomic emergency widened yesterday as the cooling systems vital for preventing overheating failed at a second reactor, and the government warned there was a risk it too could be hit with a blast.
"There is the possibility of an explosion in the No 3 reactor," said Yukio Edano, the top government spokesman, while voicing confidence it would withstand the blast as the number-one reactor had the day before.


Mr Edano, the chief cabinet secretary, said earlier it was highly likely a meltdown had occurred in the first reactor, at the plant situated on the coast 250km north-east of Tokyo.
"As for the No 3 reactor, we are acting on the assumption that it is possible," he said.