The appearance of the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, run by the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), is now a chilling sight after hydrogen explosions, and other events, damaged the roofs and walls of the reactor buildings. Over three weeks have passed since the crisis began, and yet radioactive materials leaking from four reactors, huddled in a line by the Pacific Ocean, continue to be released into the air, the sea, and the soil. Some of this radioactivity, though a miniscule amount, has even wafted over the Pacific Ocean and been detected in New York City, on the east coast of the United States.
The Japanese government has ordered residents within a radius of 20 kilometers from the nuclear station to evacuate. Lingering in that area, however, are presumed to be about 1,000 bodies, victims of the earthquake and tsunami. Meanwhile, the invisible and odorless radioactive materials persistently bathe the dead. It must be assumed that the work of searching for these bodies, due to the risk of exposure to radiation, will make it a forbidding task for local police officers and rescue workers.
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