Japanese authorities declared a state of nuclear emergency due to malfunctioning at the cooling system at the Fukushima 1 nucelar power plant, Msnbc reports. No radioactive leaks were reported so far.

Centrala nucleara Fukushima 1Foto: Captura YouTube

UPDATE 2 3:09 PM There were no radioactive leaks i Japan but a state of emergency was declared preventively. There were a few fires in the classic area, at the turbines but not in the heart of the reactors and they do not represent any danger. Now that reactors were shut down, there is no danger a representative of the Nuclear Agency declared for HotNews.ro.

UPDATE 1 2:42 PM 2,000 people in the area will be evacuated, Kyodo News reports.Officials said there was no immediate danger at the facility.

According to Kyodo news agency, an emergency core-cooling unit had been activated at the power plant operated by Tokyo Electric Power Co., but without further details.

All other nuclear power stations in Japan were closed following the major earthquake on Friday.