Radiation exposure threat in Japan

In a nutshell: Nuclear alert and radioactive leakage, smoldering fires at the refinery, thousands of people still trapped under rubble, interrupted communications, and dozens of replicas of the huge earthquake still rock Japan. 

The Japanese Government declared a state of emergency following the earthquake off the eastern coast of the country on Friday, 11.March. The first estimates say that over 3,000 people died in the magnitude 9.0 earthquake and the devastating tsunami that followed, but authorities fear that the actual death toll could exceed 10,000. Nevertheless, the search for survivors continues.

After the earthquake, all nuclear reactors in the area automatically shut down, beginning a slow cool-down process. Howerver, the cooling systems in the 40-year old Fukushima nuclear reactors 1 and 3 failed and the coolant began to evaporate from heat building up inside. To reduce pressure, the steam had to be vented, which released the first amount of radiation into the atmosphere. Caesium-137 and Iodine-131 were detected near Reactor 1. The nuclear alert in Japan is currently just one step bellow the maximum alert level established in the Chernobyl accident.

A fire at a fourth reactor followed by an explosion has released even more radiation and the Government is currently telling people within a 20-mile radius to stay indoors.

More and more countries express concern over Japan's nuclear incidents. Radiation is also increasing in Russia, where Russian troops are preparing to evacuate residents of the Kuril Islands and Sakhalin, in the event of a worsening situation.