Japanese engineers battled to avert a meltdown at the Fukushima nuclear power plant yesterday as unusually high radiation levels were recorded in food products and water for the first time.
"Rescue teams, including a 46-member team from SA, continued their desperate search for survivors after the earthquake and tsunami left over 7000 dead, 10000 missing and 450 000 homeless.
Crews working in highly toxic conditions at the nuclear plant yesterday connected a cable which they hope will power electric pumps to cool fuel rods at risk of a catastrophic radioactive fire.
Authorities raised the nuclear alert level from four to five on Friday. The 1986 Chernobyl disaster ranked at seven . Officials said a worst-case plan to bury the plant in concrete and sand was being considered.
France's Nuclear Safety Authority said the situation had stabilised, but was still 'precarious' as regulators admitted the power plant's safety plans were inadequate and did not envisage tsunami waves above 5m. Another big aftershock of 6.1 on the Richter scale hit Japan yesterday."
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