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On the brink of a nuke disaster

The No. 3 nuclear reactor of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant at Minamisoma is seen burning.

The No. 3 nuclear reactor of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant at Minamisoma is seen burning. (AP)

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Anatomy of a crisis: See how it happened and what may be next. [CLICK TO ENLARGE]

Anatomy of a crisis: See how it happened and what may be next. [CLICK TO ENLARGE] (ny POST GRAPHIC)

Three earthquake-ravaged Japanese nuclear reactors are “likely” in meltdown and spewing radiation — with two suffering damage to crucial containment walls, the government said today, triggering fears of a catastrophic release of cancer-causing radioactive gases.

A hydrogen explosion shook Reactor No. 3 at the Fukushima Daiichi plant at about 6 a.m. yesterday local time and another “huge” blast — the most serious yet — rocked Reactor No. 2 early this morning, about 24 hours later, the plant operator said.

Tokyo Electric Power Co., which operates the plant, said yesterday that Reactor No. 2’s fuel rods became dangerously exposed to the air. Public broadcaster NHK said the blast occurred after someone had mistakenly cut off the water that was supposed to cool it.

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The massive explosion erupted near the reactor’s suppression pool, which collects water and radioactive elements, possibly creating a path for highly radioactive materials to escape, according to The Washington Post.

Radiation levels near the site quadrupled within 40 minutes of the latest explosion, prompting an evacuation of 12 miles around the plant. Just south of the reactors, radiation was 100 times above normal this morning.

Prime Minister Naoto Kan warned residents between 12 and 19 miles to stay indoors to avoid falling ill.

“The [radiation] level seems very high, and there is still a very high risk of more coming out,” Kan said.

Radioactivity nine times above normal was detected west of Tokyo, 150 miles south of the plant, and elevated levels were found within the city itself today.

The frightening developments sparked evacuations and a panic-fueled run on supplies in the sprawling metropolis.

The situation had become so perilous that the vast majority of the 1,400 workers were ordered to evacuate the site as Reactor No. 2’s steel and concrete containment vessel was damaged in the explosion. The containment vessel is the final barrier between the reactor core and the environment.

Shortly after the latest blast, there was a hydrogen explosion at a fourth reactor at the plant, triggered by spent nuclear fuel that heated up. Though the blaze was quickly extinguished, more radiation spewed into the atmosphere.

“Now we are talking about levels that can damage human health,” said Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano.

Earlier, Japan had asked the United States for more equipment in the desperate attempt to cool the reactors’ white-hot nuclear cores.

In addition to the developments at Reactors 2 and 4, Japanese officials revealed that part of the containment vessel of Reactor No. 3 has been damaged. He said that despite earlier optimism about No. 3, it is “not necessarily in a stable condition.”

Reactor No. 1, which was rocked by an explosion Saturday, is also believed to be melting fuel.

Nuclear engineer Masashi Goto who helped, design the plant, said the next 24 hours are critical.

And CUNY physicist Michio Kaku told ABC News, “The situation is getting worse by the hour. We haven’t hit bottom yet.”

He said there were reports that the explosion at the plant’s Reactor No. 3 left “a 90 percent uncovering of the core.”

“This is unprecedented since Chernobyl,” Kaku said.

Foreign nuclear experts who conferred with their Japanese counterparts said the situation is serious.

Andre-Claude Lacoste, the head of France’s Nuclear Safety Authority, said the disaster is “not as great as Chernobyl,” the 1986 Ukrainian calamity that sickened thousands, but “worse than Three Mile Island” in near Harrisburg, Pa., in 1979.

There were several conflicting signs of what was happening inside the Fukushima plant.

The United Nations’ nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, said that there was no indication of a core meltdown “at this point” and that the Japanese government had asked the agency to send experts.

But there were distinct indications that the fuel rods were melting in three reactors, the Japanese government said.

“Although we cannot directly check it, it’s highly likely,” Edano said. As a precaution, US warships that had joined the humanitarian aid effort backed off after 17 members of a helicopter crew returned from a mission with low levels of radiation. Radiation was detected on the clothing — and, in one case, the skin — of the crew as they arrived back on the USS Ronald Reagan. Officials downplayed the contamination, saying it was gone after the crew was scrubbed with soap and water.

However, at least 190 people in Japan have been exposed to some radiation from the plan.

The crisis began early Friday, when the massive earthquake and ensuing tsunami knocked out the power that ran the cooling process at Fukushima.

Later that day, officials declared a nuclear emergency and ordered the evacuation of residents within 1.2 miles of the plant. That was expanded to four miles Saturday, when an attempt to vent Reactor No. 1 lead to a hydrogen explosion that destroyed an outer building.

Nearby residents remain mystified about what is happening at the plant.

“It’s like a horror movie,” said Kyoko Nambu, 49, as she stood on a hillside overlooking her ruined hometown of Soma, about 25 miles from the plant. “Our house is gone, and now they are telling us to stay indoors . . . We have no idea what is happening. I am so scared.”

On Sunday, Japanese officials rated the nuclear accidents as a “4” on the 1-to-7 International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale. Three Mile Island was a 5, and Chernobyl was a 7.

Lacoste said yesterday that Japan’s should be “at least at Level 5 or even at Level 6.”

Western nuclear experts said time may be on the side of the Japanese.

The longer the reactors’ steel and concrete containment vessels remain intact, the less of a chance there is of catastrophe because “nuclear decay” lessens some of the extreme heat in the reactor, said James Stubbins, head of nuclear engineering at University of Illinois.

andy.soltis@nypost.com