Emergency workers forced to retreat from a tsunami-stricken Japanese nuclear power plant when radiation levels soared are preparing to return Wednesday night after emissions dropped to safer levels.
The pullback cost precious time in the fight to prevent a nuclear meltdown, further escalating a crisis spawned by last week's devastating earthquake and tsunami that pulverized Japan's northeastern coast and likely killed more than 10,000 people.
The private insurance market is likely not heavily exposed to damage at nuclear reactors in Japan resulting from the 9.0 magnitude earthquake and subsequent tsunami, experts said earlier this week.
Beginning on the next page are photos detailing the current conditions at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear complex and surrounding areas as a potential meltdown looms.
This Sept. 18, 2010 aerial photo shows the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear complex in Okumamachi, northern Japan. Japan ordered emergency workers to withdraw from its stricken nuclear plant Wednesday, March 16, 2011 amid a surge in radiation, temporarily suspending efforts to cool the overheating reactors. The nuclear crisis has triggered international alarm and partly overshadowed the human tragedy caused by Friday's earthquake and the subsequent tsunami, a blast of black seawater that pulverized Japan's northeastern coastline. The quake was one of the strongest recorded in history. (AP Photo/Yomiuri Shimbun, Masamine Kawaguchi)
In this image released by Tokyo Electric Power Co., smoke billows from the No. 3 unit among four housings covering four reactors at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear complex in Okumamachi, Fukushima Prefecture, northeastern Japan, on Tuesday, March 15, 2011. Japan ordered emergency workers to withdraw from its stricken nuclear complex Wednesday amid a surge in radiation, temporarily suspending efforts to cool the overheating reactors. Hours later, officials said they were preparing to send the team back in. (AP Photo/Tokyo Electric Power Co.)
Teams of government specialists at the emergency rescue headquarters frantically analyze data from the leaked radiation from the Fukushima nuclear facilities damaged by last week's major earthquake and following tsunami, Wednesday, March 16, 2011, in Fukushima city, Fukushima prefecture, Japan. (AP Photo/Wally Santana)
Japan's Defense Ministry officials plot possibly radioactive affected areas on a map at the emergency rescue headquarters monitoring leaked radiation from the Fukushima nuclear facilities damaged by last week's major earthquake and following tsunami, Wednesday, March 16, 2011, in Fukushima city, Fukushima prefecture, Japan. (AP Photo/Wally Santana)
A woman holds her child at a shelter after being evacuated from areas around the Fukushima nuclear facilities damaged by last week's major earthquake and following tsunami, Wednesday, March 16, 2011, in Fukushima city, Fukushima prefecture, Japan. (AP Photo/Wally Santana)
A man is screened for radiation exposure at a shelter after being evacuated from areas around the Fukushima nuclear facilities damaged by last week's major earthquake and following tsunami, Wednesday, March 16, 2011, in Fukushima city, Fukushima prefecture, Japan. (AP Photo/Wally Santana)
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