News Headlines - 12 March 2011

▽Huge blast at Japan nuclear power plant - BBC
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-12720219
A powerful explosion has hit a nuclear power station in north-eastern Japan which was badly damaged in Friday's devastating earthquake and tsunami.

▽Japan's Fukushima nuclear plant faces new reactor problem - Reuters
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/12/us-japan-quake-nuclear-cooling-idUSTRE72B3GI20110312
A quake-hit Japanese nuclear plant reeling from an explosion at one of its reactors has also lost its emergency cooling system at another reactor, Japan's nuclear power safety agency said on Sunday.

▽Nuclear power industry watches warily as Japan's aging reactor is hit hard - Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/03/12/AR2011031203627.html?hpid=topnews
The potential for a full-blown nuclear disaster on top of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan remains unclear - but what's happening in an aging atomic reactor has put Japanese citizens and the entire global nuclear power industry on edge.

▽Up to 160 may have radiation exposure in Japan nuclear accident - Reuters
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/12/us-japan-quake-radiation-idUSTRE72B3IY20110312
The number of individuals exposed to radiation from the quake-hit Fukushima nuclear power plant in northeastern Japan could reach as high as 160, an official of Japan's nuclear safety agency said on Sunday.

▽Thousands protest against Germany's nuclear plants - BBC
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-12724981
Tens of thousands of people have protested in Germany against the government's plans to extend the life of its nuclear reactors.
Demonstrators in Stuttgart formed a human chain reaching 45km (27 miles) for the protest, planned before the current nuclear crisis in Japan.