The following is a roundup of the effect on manufacturers, energy firms and other companies of the devastating earthquake and tsunami that struck the northeast coast of Japan.
NUCLEAR
– The government said there was an explosion and radiation leak at the Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) Fukushima nuclear plant, some 240 km (150 miles) north of Tokyo, but had not confirmed if a nuclear reactor exploded.
– TEPCO has been trying to reduce pressure in the core of the reactor in the plant damaged by the quake. The outer structure of the building housing the reactor appeared to have been blown off in the explosion, TV showed, suggesting the containment building had been breached. Tens of thousands of residents were evacuated from the vicinity.
– The emergency cooling system at a second reactor at the same plant had failed, Japan's nuclear power safety agency said.
TEPCO said on Sunday morning it had started releasing air from a reactor container vessel at the No.3 reactor at its Fukushima Daiichi plant to lower pressure inside it and avoid any serious damage to the containment vessel.
“We are doing the two things at the same time – venting air out of the reactor and supplying water into the reactor,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano told a news conference.
“Radiation released in the process is low enough not to affect people's health,” he said.
Radiation levels rose above the safety limit around TEPCO's nuclear plant and the company informed the government of an “emergency situation”, Kyodo agency reported on Sunday.
There was no immediate threat to people's health, the company said.
A similar rise in radiation levels occurred after it released radioactive steam on Saturday from the plant's No.1 reactor to release pressure, also obliging it to notify authorities of an “emergency situation”.
To boost the cooling treatment, TEPCO began filling the damaged No.1 reactor with seawater and used boric acid to prevent it the reactor from reaching “criticality”, or an uncontrolled nuclear reaction.
Seven boiling water reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi plant and the neighbouring Fukushima Daini plant, both operated by TEPCO, automatically shut down soon after the quake and subsequent tsunami on Friday that killed hundreds of residents along a lengthy stretch of Japan's northeast coastline.
The other three units had been under planned maintenance.
– A total of 11 reactors at four nuclear plants operated by three firms shut down automatically after the quake, reducing the amount of nuclear power generation capacity in operation to 25,622 megawatts, or 52.3 percent of Japan's total, Reuters calculations show.
– Hokuriku Electric Co said on Friday all three reactors at its Onagawa nuclear plant on the northeast coast shut down automatically after the quake.
– Japan Atomic Power Co automatically shut down the 1,100-megawatt Tokai Daini nuclear plant on the northeast coast, the closest to Tokyo.
UTILITIES
– TEPCO estimated there would be a power shortage of 7 million KW on Sunday rising to 10 mln KW on weekdays, and said it would consider asking customers to accept outages from Sunday.
– TEPCO said about 270,000 households in the Ibaraki, Tochigi and Chiba areas were without power on Sunday, down from some 4 mln immediately after the quake. Help from other utilities totalled 1.6 mln kWh, a company spokesman said. After the quake, some 20 mln kWh of electricity was lost, compared to supplies of 52 mln kWh prior to the quake.
– Electric Power Development (J-Power) halted operations at its 600-megawatt Isogo No.2 thermal plant in Yokohama on Friday after the quake but resumed operations to normal on Saturday, a spokesman said. The 600-MW No.1 plant is shut for regular maintenance.
– Tokyo Gas Co said it had stopped supplying gas to more than 35,000 households and facilities.
MANUFACTURING
– Sony Corp said it suspended operations at six production facilities in the affected area. One factory was flooded, but the other five did not suffer major damage.
– Nissan Motor Co halted production at all four of its car assembly factories in Japan, including those in the severely hit Tochigi and Fukushima prefectures. Small fires broke out at two of the factories.
– Toyota Motor Co said it had halted production at two factories with combined annual capacity of 420,000 small cars built mainly for overseas markets.
– Honda Motor Co said a 43-year-old male employee had died at its R&D centre in Tochigi prefecture after a wall collapsed in the canteen, while about 30 people were injured. It said four of its domestic plants and a research and development centre would remain closed on Monday.
– Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd said it had halted eight of its 10 factories, including all five car and car parts-related plants for its Subaru-brand vehicles in Gunma prefecture, north of Tokyo. It also suspended operations at its aircraft and power products factories in Tochigi.
– Kirin Holdings said four large beer tanks had collapsed and some of the contents had been washed away at a factory in Sendai. Operations were also suspended at its factory in Ibaraki after part of the facility was damaged.
Other companies said they had halted plants in the region as workers were evacuated following tsunami warnings or due to power outages. They include Asahi Kasei Corp, GlaxoSmithKline , JSR , Nestle , Nippon Paper Group , Sapporo Breweries Ltd and Morinaga Milk Industry .
REFINERIES
– Cosmo Oil said a fire had broken out near an LPG tank at its Chiba refinery and had not been extinguished by Sunday, though its intensity had lessened. A company official denied that rain could spread harmful chemicals from the fire.
– JX Holdings said a fire at its Sendai refinery originated from a land oil product shipping facility nearby, not an LPG tank as feared earlier.
– JX Holdings has declared force majeure on its refined product supplies as its stocks were depleted and distributions were disrupted. The company said it was working to boost output at its refineries that were still operating and diverting products to domestic use instead of exports to meet a supply shortfall.
– Maruzen Petrochemical said it had shut two naphtha crackers at its Chiba plant with capacities of 480,000 and 690,000 tonnes of ethylene per year, respectively.
– Kyokuto Petroleum said it had shut its 175,000 bpd Chiba refinery.
– JX Holdings shut its 404,000 tonnes per year Kawasaki naphtha cracker near Tokyo on Friday after the quake.
– Tonengeneral said it had shut the main units at its 335,000-bpd Kawasaki refinery near Tokyo.
– Mitsubishi Chemical said it had halted two naphtha crackers at its Kashima plant after a power outage.
– AOC Holdings said its 140,000-bpd Sodegaura refinery was still operating but it had cut runs of two fluid catalytic cracking units.
