AP: Fukushima reactor in "partial meltdown"

Eric Talmadge and Yuri Kageyama
AP
TOKYO - Japan's top government spokesman says a partial meltdown is likely under way at second reactor affected by Friday's massive earthquake.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said Sunday that radiation at the nuclear power plant in Fukushima briefly rose above legal limits, but it has since declined significantly.

Three reactors at the plant lost their cooling functions in the aftermath of quake and tsunami because of a power outage.

Some 170,000 people have been ordered to evacuate the area within 12 miles (20 kilometers) of the plant.

The plant is 170 miles north of Tokyo.