Japan says meltdown possible at nuclear plant
By Associated Press
Mar 11, 2011 11:36 PM CST
In this image made off Japan's NHK television video footrage, a crew member of Japan Ground Self-Defense Force helicopter lifts a stranded resident from the rooftop of a house in Yamamotocho, Miyagi Prefecture, northern Japan, Saturday morning, March 12, 2011, after Japan's biggest recorded earthquake...   (Associated Press)

An official with Japan's nuclear safety commission says that a meltdown at nuclear power plant affected by the country's massive earthquake is possible.

Ryohei Shiomi said Saturday that officials were checking whether a meltdown had taken place at the Fukushima Dai-ichi power plant, which had lost cooling ability in the aftermath of Friday's powerful earthquake.

Shiomi said that even if there was a meltdown, it wouldn't affect humans within a six-mile (10-kilometer) radius.

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