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Workers in Japan try to stop a third nuclear plant explosion
Posted: 03.14.2011 at 5:36 AM Updated: 03.14.2011 at 8:35 AM
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TOKYO (AP) -- Update: There are fears of a third potential explosion at a nuclear plant in northeast Japan following Friday's earthquake and tsunami.

Officials say the fuel rods in one reactor were fully exposed after it lost its ability to cool down. Sea water is being pumped on the rods to cool them down and prevent another explosion.

Earlier today a hydrogen explosion at another reactor at the same plant sent a massive cloud of smoke into the air. Eleven workers were injured.

On Saturday, a third nuclear reactor at the plant exploded, injuring four workers and causing mass evacuations. Much of the reactor's outer building was destroyed.

Seventeen U.S. military personnel involved in helicopter relief missions were found to have been exposed to low levels of radiation upon returning to the USS Ronald Reagan, an aircraft carrier about 100 miles offshore.

U.S. officials say the exposure level was roughly equal to one month's normal exposure in the environment. The 17 were scrubbed with soap and water, and were declared contamination-free.

But as a precaution, the carrier and other U.S. 7th Fleet ships have shifted to another area.

Earlier reports

The Japanese government says 11 people were injured, one seriously, in an explosion at a quake-stricken nuclear power plant.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano says four army personnel and seven nuclear power plant workers were hurt when Unit 3 at the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear plant exploded Monday. Later in the day, another reactor in the plant lost its cooling capacity, raising the risks of another blast.

Edano says one of the workers was seriously injured but still conscious and the four military staff were only slightly hurt and had already returned to their unit.

1,000 bodies found in Japan's quake-hit area

Japanese police say another 1,000 bodies have been found in quake-hit coastal areas.

A police official in Miyagi says that around 1,000 washed up bodies were scattered across Miyagi coastlines. The official declined to be named, citing department policy.

The Miyagi police chief inspected the areas from a helicopter Monday. The official says authorities are recovering the bodies.

 US pulls ships, aircraft from Japan nuke plant

The U.S. Seventh Fleet says it has moved its ships and aircraft away from a quake-stricken Japanese nuclear power plant after discovering low-level radioactive contamination.

The fleet said Monday that the radiation was from a plume of smoke and steam released from the crippled Fukushima Dai-Ichi Nuclear Power Plant. The plant has been hit by two explosions since Friday's devastating earthquake and tsunami.

The aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan was about 100 miles (160 kilometers) offshore when its instruments detected the radiation. But the fleet says the dose of radiation was about the same as one month's normal exposure to natural background radiation in the environment.

(Copyright ©2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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