Photo Gallery Japan's Nuclear Crisis
The top part of the badly damaged Fukushima nuclear power plant on Thusday. The recent Japanese earthquake and tsunami has crippled the plant and led to a risk of a meltdown.
Four out of six reactor units can be seen in this handout photo from the Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO), which operates the Fukushima facility. They have all been damaged.
Authorities are rushing to cool stored fuel rods, exposed by the explosions, with seawater dumped from helicopters.
Japan's domestic Self-Defence Forces are operating the Chinook helicopters.
This graphic shows wind speed over Japan in kilometers per hour as well as direction. Wind direction will be pivotal in determining how much radiation falls over populated areas of the country.
Smoke billows from the severely damaged No. 3 unit at the Fukushima plant.
Firefighting vehicles like this one will also spray water onto the overheating fuel rods.
As panic over radiation gripped Tokyo, residents crammed into a bullet train on Wednesday.
Residents evacuated from the area surrounding the stricken power plant had to be checked for radiation.
Some were isolated in makeshift facilities to screen, cleanse and isolate people exposed to high radiation.
In Kawamata village, Japanese medical personnel checked a mother and son for evidence of radiation exposure.
The Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant in Fukushima Prefecture, pictured on Mar. 14 after being damaged by explosions following the earthquake and ensuing tsunami.
A child is screened for radiation exposure at a testing center on Mar. 15.
This picture taken in August 2010 shows a storage pool for used fuel rods inside the Unit 3 building at the Fukushima plant. This pool is now exposed after a hydrogen explosion blew off the roof. Helicopters are trying to keep the rods covered in water while workers repair the plant's cooling system.
Medical personnel check for radiation exposure in Fukushima city, Fukushima prefecture. Radiation levels at the damaged nuclear power plant, 240 kilometers north of Tokyo, were rising well above the legal limits, government spokesman Yukio Edano said.
A screen grab taken from live news footage by Japanese public broadcaster NHK on Mar. 15 shows the number two reactor at Fukushima after a large explosion was heard.
This picture shows the number two reactor (second left) between the burnt roofs of the No. 1 (left) and No. 3 (second right) reactor units, with number four also visible on the right.
Environmental activists, wearing masks, stage a 'die-in' during a rally in Manila, the Philippines, on Mar. 15, to demand the dismantling of the already-mothballed nuclear power plant in the country and abort all other nuclear programs following the crisis in Japan.
A Filipino rescue worker demonstrates the use of a respiratory mask in a hypothetical aid effort in Japan, at a military camp in Quezon City, east of Manila. The Philippines is organizing teams for possible deployment to Japan for search and rescue operations.
A man in Tokyo on Tuesday hands out a special edition newspaper reporting on the crisis at the Fukushima plant.
Just days after a massive hydrogen explosion rocked one Japanese nuclear power station, a second one hit the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant -- this time in the area containing reactor No. 3. This TV screen grab shows the instant of the blast.
Moments later, a dark plume of smoke rose. Eleven workers were hurt in the blast.
Japanese authorities played down the explosion's immediate consequences. They said the thick walls surrounding the nuclear cores of the plant's damaged reactors remained intact.
The blast from the explosion at the complex could be felt up to 25 miles away. Authorities asked many in the surrounding area to remain in their houses, and evacuated thousands more.
The aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan moved away from the Japanese coast over concerns about radiation exposure.
A mother speaks with her daughter, who had been isolated to check for signs of radiation exposure in Nihonmatsu.
Police with respirators to protect them from possible radiation direct fleeing residents as they evacuate the area on Saturday.
In recent months, plutonium was also used in addition to uranium at Fukushima, increasing potential risks.
The damaged roof of reactor number No. 1 (left) is seen next to an undamaged reactor unit on March 12.
The Fukushima plant is not the only one in Japan to be damaged by last week's earthquake and tsunami. An aerial photo shows the of Onagawa Nuclear Power Plant after the earthquake struck.
Japanese Self Defense Forces wearing anti-radiation gear search for evacuees in Otama village near the Fukushima nuclear power plant on Sunday. Residents within a 20-kilometer radius of the plant were evacuated.
The damaged roof of reactor unit No. 1.
Saturday's explosion only destroyed the hull of the building containing the reactor, the government said -- not the reactor core itself.
An emergency worker, wearing a protective outfit, escorts an elderly man to a shelter.
Police officers wearing protective clothing and respirators head towards the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in trucks.
This image from Japanese broadcaster NHK shows that the entire hull of the building at reactor unit No. 1 was destroyed in Saturday's explosion. All that remains of the exterior is scaffolding.
Friday's earthquake and subsequent tsunami caused the failure of the plants' emergency power generators and also led to a failure of the crucial cooling system.
This aerial photo shows the extensive damage caused by the earthquake and tsunami. Many pipes were damaged or destroyed.
On Saturday morning, a helicopter flies over the power plant just minutes before it was rocked by an explosion.
