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By ERIC TALMADGE and YURI KAGEYAMA, Associated Press


      IWAKI, Japan (AP) -A partial meltdown was likely under way at a
second nuclear reactor, a top Japanese official said Sunday, as
authorities frantically tried to prevent a similar threat from
nearby unit following a catastrophic earthquake and tsunami.

      Some 170,000 people have been ordered to evacuate the area
covering a radius of 12 miles (20 kilometers) around the plant in
Fukushima near Iwaki. A meltdown refers to a very serious collapse
of a power plant's systems and its ability to manage temperatures.
A complete meltdown would release uranium and dangerous byproducts
into the environment that can pose serious health risks.


      Japan dealt with the nuclear threat as it struggled to determine
the scope of the twin disasters Friday, when an 8.9-magnitude
earthquake, the most powerful in its recorded history, was followed
by a tsunami that ravaged its northeastern coast with breathtaking
speed and power.

      The official count of the dead was 763, but the government said
the figure could far exceed 1,000. Media reports said some 10,000
people were missing or unaccounted for.

      The quake and tsunami damaged three reactors at the Fukushima
Dai-ichi nuclear plant, which lost their cooling functions
necessary to keep the fuel rods functioning properly. At first the
Unit 1 reactor was in trouble with an explosion destroying the
walls of the room in which it is placed. Later, Unit 3 also began
to experience problems.

      Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said operators released
slightly radioactive air from Unit 3 Sunday, while injecting water
into it as an effort to reduce pressure and temperature to save the
reactor from a possible meltdown.


      Still, a partial meltdown in the unit is "highly possible," he
told reporters.


      "Because it's inside the reactor, we cannot directly check it
but we are taking measures on the assumption of the possible
partial meltdown," he said.


      Edano said radiation levels briefly rose above legal limits, but
that it has since declined significantly. Also, fuel rods were
exposed briefly, he said, indicating that coolant water didn't
cover the rods for some time. That would contribute further to
raising the temperature in the reactor vessel.


      Meanwhile, the government doubled the number of troops pressed
into rescue and recovery operations to about 100,000 from 51,000.


      Teams searched for the missing along hundreds of miles
(kilometers) of the Japanese coast, and thousands of hungry
survivors huddled in darkened emergency centers that were cut off
from rescuers and aid. At least a million households had gone
without water since the quake struck. Large areas of the
countryside were surrounded by water and unreachable. Some 2.5
million households were without electricity.

      Powerful aftershocks continued to rock the country, including
one Sunday with a magnitude of 6.2 that originated in the sea,
about 111 miles (179 kilometers) east of Tokyo. It swayed buildings
in the capital, but there were no reports of injuries or damage.

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Disasters

A partial meltdown was likely under way at a
second nuclear reactor, a top Japanese official said Sunday, as
authorities frantically tried to prevent a similar threat from
nearby unit following a catastrophic earthquake and tsunami.

For battered Japan, a new threat: nuclear meltdown

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