China may have new threat from damaged N-facilities

STILL UNSAFE: A nuclear watchdog said that nuclear facilities may have been damaged by the quake in China.

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Keywords: China earthquake, nuclear facilities

New Delih: The aftermath of China's devastating earthquake on Tuesday saw makeshift refugee camps mushrooming in odd places, with Mianyang being one of them.

The industrial city plays home to China's nuclear weapons industry and turned into a refugee camp as tens of thousands of residents camped on streets for the second night in a row. Thousands more stayed in the city's stadium.

The city's buildings were dark and deserted as the government posted guards to keep the people out, for fear of aftershocks. Powerful aftershocks, one to the tune of magnitude 6, was felt in Sichuan's Chengdu, one of the cities worst hit by the 7.8 magnitude earthquake.

However, the refugees may not be safe even now, for the earthquake may have damaged the nuclear facilities in Mianyang.

French experts of the Institute for Radiological Protection and Nuclear Safety (IRSN) told agencies on Tuesday that they could not rule out damage to the nuclear facilities in Daya Bay, Lingao, Qinshan and Tianwan, as a result of the earthquakes.

Though all nuclear reactors are located more than thousand kilmetres from the epicentre, other nuclear facilities - such as research reactors - are located in Sichuan, some even within 100 km of the epicentre.

"Given the sharp ground acceleration of 250 centimetres per second detected 70 kilometres from the epicentre, it is not possible at this stage to rule out damage to these facilities," the institute said in a statement to agencies.

Mianyang's surrounding areas have a reported death toll of 7,300 while 18,000 are still believe to be trapped under rubble.

More than 12,000 deaths have been reported in the Sichuan province alone.