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Japan's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (JNISA) confirmed that an explosion occurred at around 11:08 am local time on Monday and was likely triggered by a combination of oxygen and hydrogen mixing.
On Saturday, an explosion occurred at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, destroying the roof and the walls of the building of the No. 1 reactor's outer container. This following an 8.8 magnitude earthquake that hit Japan's northeastern Honshu Island on Friday, and a 10-meter tsunami that washed the port in Sendai city. An explosion also occurred at the Cosmo Oil refinery in Chiba Prefecture following the massive quake.
Tokyo Electric Power Co. said there were seven people missing and three injured after the explosion at the nuclear plant on Monday.
JNISA said that the wall of the reactor building had collapsed, confirming eye-witness reports that only the buildings skeletal structure remains.
The likelihood of high levels of radiation affecting people in the area is low, said the agency, but warned the 600 people that still remained within the 20-kilometer evacuation zone should leave immediately.
The agency also said that large amounts of hydrogen have amassed in the upper parts of the reactor building and that the pressure in the reactor building remains unusually high, similar to the situation with the No. 1 reactor building, which also exploded on Saturday.
Cooling operations at the reactor are still continuing to ultimately preserve the containment unit, although coolant levels are low, the agency reported.
JNISA had independently verified, however, that the containment vessel in the reactor is still intact.
Speaking at an emergency press conference, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano announced on Monday that the explosion did not damage the reactor and containment vessel and that there is little possibility of mass radiation being leaked into the air.
Edano had feared on Sunday that a hydrogen explosion could occur at the plant's No. 3 reactor - the latest reactor to face a possible meltdown, following a hydrogen blast on Saturday in the plant's No. 1 unit.
Crippled by Friday's massive earthquake and tsunami, workers have been battling to stave off multiple reactor meltdowns at the faltering Fukushima plant.
More than 180 000 people have evacuated the area, and up to 160 may have been exposed to radiation, latest figures show. - BuaNews
