As if the earthquake destruction and damage wasn't enough, now this. It's not yet clear if a meltdown occurred but the signs suggest it may have happened. Even if it's minor, this can't be good news.
Workers are battling to stave off a possible nuclear meltdown at a plant in north-eastern Japan as the country struggles with the aftermath of Friday's enormous earthquake and tsunami.
Japanese media said officials had detected caesium, one of the elements released when overheating causes core damage, around the reactor at Fukushima No 1 plant in Futuba, 150 miles north of Tokyo.
The Tokyo Electric Power Company said it did not believe a meltdown was underway but Ryohei Shiomi, an official with Japan's nuclear safety commission, said that it was possible.
But experts and authorities played down the dangers of a Chernobyl-style disaster saying they believed a partial meltdown was controllable. The government urged people to remain calm.
