* Foreign Office provides free-of-charge rescue flights from Tokyo
* Rich scramble to book private jets out the country as fleeing passengers pack Tokyo airport
* French say Japanese have 'visibly lost essential control' as they urge their citizens to get out
Plans are being drawn up to evacuate every British national in Japan amid mounting fears of a nuclear catastrophe. Thousands of Britons were last night warned to leave Tokyo and all other areas under threat of radiation poisoning.
The Foreign Office is even chartering additional planes to ensure that all British citizens can leave the country on free-of-charge rescue flights - as thousands of terrified passengers cram into Tokyo airport attempting to flee.
It comes as the Japanese authorities resorted to dumping water on over-heating reactors at the Fukushima nuclear plant from helicopters in a desperate last-ditch attempt to stop a catastrophic meltdown.
The advice to flee – echoed by other countries around the world – followed a meeting of the Cabinet’s emergency Cobra committee to discuss the meltdown-threatened Fukushima nuclear plant.
Last ditch: A Japanese military helicopter can be seen in the top left of the picture as it dumps water onto reactors 3 and 4 at Fukushima nuclear plant
It heightened suspicions that the crisis at the plant – already ranked the second-worst nuclear disaster after Chernobyl – is worse than the Japanese authorities have publicly let on.
Two CH-47 Chinook helicopters began dumping seawater on the damaged reactor of Unit 3 at the Fukushima complex at 9.48am local time this morning as Defence Minister Toshifumi Kitazawa told reporters that emergency workers had no choice but to try the water dumps before it was too late.
The aircraft dumped at least four loads of at least 2,000 gallons each, on the reactor, though much of the water appeared to be dispersed in the air.
The dumping was intended both to help cool the reactor and to replenish water in a pool holding spent fuel rods. The plant's owner, Tokyo Electric Power Co., said earlier that the pool was nearly empty, which might cause the rods to overheat.
American officials have also said that they believe the fuel holding pools at reactor three and four are empty.
That means that nuclear fuel rods at both the reactors could overheat further and release more radiation.
Even when removed from reactors, uranium rods are still extremely hot and must be cooled for months, possibly longer, to prevent them from heating up again and emitting radioactivity.
Emergency workers are struggling to keep a constant supply of water pumping into the holding pools.
Japanese officials last night admitted that much of the monitoring equipment in the plant was broken and it was impossible to monitor the situation.
'We haven't been able to get any of the latest data at any spent fuel pools. We don't have latest water levels, temperatures, none of the latest information,' an official said. There are also frantic efforts to restore power to the coolant pumping system that was knocked out by the tsunami on Friday.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said that along with the helicopter water drops, special police units would use water cannons - normally used to quell rioters - to spray water onto the Unit 4 storage pool. The high-pressure water cannons will allow emergency workers to stay farther away.
Japanese ministers are holding further talks on whether an immediate evacuation from Japan should be considered.
About 17,000 British nationals are thought to be in the country, mostly in Tokyo. Last night’s Foreign Office warning stopped short of ordering them to leave the country – a diplomatic gesture which will be welcomed by the Japanese government.
But officials conceded that in reality most Britons will have few options but to leave Japan if they want to heed the advice.
Thousands of Japanese citizens are already fleeing Tokyo for the south.
Officials yesterday insisted there was no significant risk to human health in Tokyo, which is less than 140 miles south of Fukushima.
But Europe’s energy chief Guenther Oettinger warned the huge plant was ‘effectively out of control’ – sparking fears of a meltdown, which could send a radioactive cloud into the atmosphere.
He warned of ‘further catastrophic events, which could pose a threat to the lives of people on the island’. Mr Oettinger predicted the dire situation could take a further turn for the worse ‘within hours’.
The Japanese public was also unconvinced by its government’s reassurances. The mayor of Minimisoma, which is 12 miles from the Fukushima plant, said: ‘We weren’t told when the first reactor exploded, we only heard about it on television. The government doesn’t tell us anything. We are isolated. They’re leaving us to die.’
The Foreign Office insisted there was ‘no real human health issue’ outside the 20-mile exclusion zone surrounding the plant.
But it warned that panic caused by the crisis meant there were ‘potential disruptions to the supply of goods, transport, communications, power and other infrastructure’ in Tokyo.
Officials confirmed that contingency plans were being drawn up for an airlift of British nationals if the crisis worsens.
The United States is also evacuating the family members of officials stationed in Japan.
The warning came as the Japanese maid the increasingly desperate attempts to contain the crisis at the Fukushima plant.
A core team of 180 emergency workers has been at the forefront of the struggle at the plant, rotating in and out of the complex to try to reduce their radiation exposure.
But experts said that anyone working close to the reactors was almost certainly being exposed to radiation levels that could, at least, give them much higher cancer risks.
'I don't know any other way to say it, but this is like suicide fighters in a war,' said Keiichi Nakagawa, associate professor of the Department of Radiology at University of Tokyo Hospital.
Yesterday a further fire broke out, two more reactors were reported to be overheating and concerns were growing about two pools used to store spent radioactive fuel. If a reactor overheats – and its casing is breached – dangerous radioactive material could be blown for miles. Several countries advised their citizens to evacuate.
France, one of the world’s leading users of nuclear energy, said its citizens should get out Japan. Industry Minister Eric Besson said: ‘Let’s not beat about the bush. They have visibly lost essential control. That is our analysis, even if it’s not what they are saying.’
French Environment Minister Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet described the crisis as ‘catastrophic’ and said the latest information ‘does not lead to optimism’.
There are 2,000 French still in the Tokyo area. Australia also urged its citizens to consider leaving Tokyo and the quake-affected areas.
And the U.S. advised all Americans living within 50 miles of Fukishima to evacuate or take shelter indoors.
Russia said the crisis was moving towards a grim conclusion.
Sergei Kiriyenko, who presides over the bulk of the country’s nuclear facilities, declared: ‘Unfortunately, the situation is developing under the worst scenario.’
Explosions rocked the site on Saturday and Monday when hydrogen gas – released to ease pressure inside the sealed cores – ignited at reactors 1 and 3. On Monday hydrogen blasts hit reactor 2 and reactor 4, damaging its roof.
Experts believe that the reactor 2 blast cracked the 80-inch steel and concrete containment unit surrounding the radioactive core – triggering a radiation leak.
Last night temperatures were rising out of control in reactors 5 and 6. Scientists are also concerned about falling water levels in two tanks used to store and cool spent fuel rods.
Water in at least one of the pools is boiling. If its rods are exposed to the air they could overheat, releasing radioactive material into the air.
Steam rose from the pool alongside reactor 3 yesterday. Nuclear experts said the solutions being proposed to prevent leaks were ‘last-ditch efforts’.
But they added that if temperatures inside the reactors are kept down, the plant could be safe within a week.
The chief of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), Gregory Jaczko, warned that all the cooling water had gone from one of the spent fuel pools.
That would mean there is nothing to stop the fuel rods getting hotter and ultimately melting down and if the outer shell of the rods ignite with enough force, it could propel the radioactive fuel inside over a wide area.
'I hope my information is wrong,' said Jaczko. 'It's a terrible tragedy for Japan.'
Japan's nuclear safety agency and Tokyo Electric Power, which operates the complex, denied the claim and utility spokesman Hajime Motojuku said the 'condition is stable' at Unit 4.
Earlier, however, another utility spokesman contradicted that by saying the officials' greatest concerns were the spent fuel pools, which lack the protective shells that reactors have.
'We haven't been able to get any of the latest data at any spent fuel pools,' said Masahisa Otsuki.
'We don't have the latest water levels, temperatures, none of the latest information for any of the four reactors.'
Destroyed: Damage after the earthquake and tsunami at Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, 240 km (150 miles) north of Tokyo, is seen in this satellite image taken 9:35 am local time (0035 GMT)
Escape: residents gather up their belongings and form a queue as they wait to board a bus out of Sendai, north eastern Japan, yesterday
Extreme measures: There are temporary radiation cleaning shelter, set up by across the affected area including Nihonmatsu city in Fukushima
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