Tokyo: Japan faced a potential catastrophe on Tuesday after a quake-crippled nuclear power plant exploded and sent low levels of radiation floating towards Tokyo, prompting some people to flee the capital and others to stock up on essential supplies.
The crisis appeared to escalate late in the day when the operators of the facility said that one of two blasts had blown a hole in the building housing a reactor, which meant spent nuclear fuel was exposed to the atmosphere.
Europe's energy commissioner Guenther Oettinger dubbed Japan's nuclear disaster an "apocalypse", saying Tokyo had almost lost control of events at the Fukushima power plant.
"There is talk of an apocalypse and I think the word is particularly well chosen," he said in remarks to the European Parliament.
Prime Minister Naoto Kan urged people within 30 kilometres of the facility — a population of 140,000 — to remain indoors.
"The possibility of further radioactive leakage is heightening," a grim-faced Kan said in an address to the nation earlier in the day. "We are making every effort to prevent the leak from spreading. I know that people are very worried but I would like to ask you to act calmly."
Officials in Tokyo — 240 kilometres to the south of the plant — said radiation in the capital was 10 times normal by evening but there was no threat.
Around eight hours after the explosions, the UN weather agency said winds were dispersing radioactive material over the Pacific Ocean.
"The cloud is going in the direction of Tokyo for the next 15 to 20 hours or so," Gerhard Wotawa, of the Austrian weather service ZAMG, who is advising the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said.
"Then it will go out towards the Pacific," he said. "At some point this will also spread around the world."
Japan's Nikkei index fell as much as 14 per cent before ending down 10.6 per cent. The two-day fall has wiped some $620 billion off the market.
