Japan Latest: A Moment of Silence as Death Toll Climbs

Today, at 2:46 p.m. local time (0546 GMT), Japan observed a moment of silence to mark one week since the 9.0-magnitude earthquake struck, followed by a tsunami and the ongoing crisis at its Fukushima nuclear reactors.

The National Police Agency has just released the latest casualty figures, with 6539 dead and 10,354 missing.

At Fukushima, the Tokyo Electric Power Company says it hopes to restore power to two of the troubled reactors by Saturday to activate cooling systems. Fire trucks have been dousing reactor No.3, while teams are trying to restore a power cable to reactors No. 1 and No. 2 to restart pumps to pour cold water on overheating fuel rods.

The damaged No. 4 reactor:

Photo: Reuters

Japan Latest: Trying to Cool the Nuclear Plant

0615 GMT: The official toll is now 5718 dead, 8913 missing, and 2285 injured.

On the nuclear front, helicopters made four passes in 20 minutes to drop 30 tons of seawater on the damaged No. 3 reactor complex at the Fukushima plant, trying to cool the overheated pool for spent fuel. Today, 11 special water cannon trucks will douse the complex.

Japanese Defense Minister Toshimi Kitazawa, after talks with Prime Minister Naoto Kan, said he decided to take the steps despite concerns about exposing workers to radiation. "We could not delay the mission any further, therefore we decided to execute it," Kitazawa said.

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Japan Latest: The Crisis at the Nuclear Plant

1611 GMT: The situation at the nuclear plants is urgent, indeed. Reuters has this flash update:

"IAEA head says core damage at units 1-3 of Japan's quake-hit nuclear plant confirmed, situation very serious"

1510 GMT: The mayor of Ishinomaki, in Miyagi Prefecture in northeast Japan, says it is likely that 10,000 are missing from the town.

The International Atomic Energy Agency says #Japanese authorities are concerned over the condition of pools for spent nuclear fuel pools at the Fukushima No. 3 and No. 4 nuclear reactor complexes.

0945 GMT: The New York Times summarises the situation at the Fukushima nuclear plant:

The authorities announced that a second reactor unit at the stricken Fukushima Daiichi plant in northeastern Japan may have ruptured and appeared to be releasing radio steam.

Such were the radiation levels above the plant, moreover, that the Defense Force put off a highly unusual plan to dump water from military helicopters to lower temperatures in an overheating pool containing spent fuel rods, news reports said.

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Japan Latest: Explosion at a Third Fukushima Reactor

Earlier LiveBlog: Another Explosion at the Nuclear Plant

2200 GMT: There is another fire tonight at the Fukushima No. 4 reactor complex.

1342 GMT: Reuters has an ominous report: "French nuclear agency says Fukushima nuclear accident is level 6 on INES scale." To put things in perspective, the Chernobyl nuclear disaster was rated a 7 on the same scale. Kyodo news is reporting that the radiation is now too high for normal work in the control room for nuclear reactor number 4.

There was an aftershock, measuring 6.0, just moments ago, though no tsunami warning has been issued.

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Japan Video: Explosion at the Nuclear Plant

The moment of explosion today at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant:

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