Subscribe to one of our news e-mail lists.
Nuclear processing can get out of control, fast.
In all, some 310,000 people were affected by restrictions. Police in protective gear had set up blockades at all major streets to keep vehicles out. Schools were shut down, train service was halted, and farmers were warned not to harvest their crops until they could be examined for safety. Earlier on Friday, Japanese engineers stopped a fission chain reaction inside the uranium plant. Dozens of people, mostly workers at the plant, were treated for contamination.