TOKYO (Reuters) - Following are main developments after a massive earthquake and tsunami devastated northeast Japan and crippled a nuclear power station, raising the risk of uncontrolled radiation.
* Operator of Japan's quake-damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power complex in northeastern Japan recorded the site's highest levels of radiation at the No.3 reactor on Wednesday.
* Workers ordered to leave the plant were allowed back in after radiation levels fell. Operator says there were 180 workers on site as of 2:30 a.m. British time.
- Fire breaks out at reactor No.4 a day after a blast blew a hole in the building housing spent fuel rods. White smoke seen from No.3 reactor most likely to be steam from the water that is being poured to cool the rods.
- Authorities plan to bulldoze an emergency route to crippled reactor No.4 to allow access for fire trucks. A helicopter separately preparing to pour water on to No. 3 reactor -- whose roof was damaged by an earlier explosion -- to try to cool its fuel rods, broadcaster NHK said.
- No plan yet to extend evacuation zone near the facility, 240 km (150 miles) north of Tokyo.
* Australia urges its citizens with non-essential roles to consider leaving Tokyo and the most damaged prefectures, and Turkey warns citizens against travelling to Japan.
- France urges nationals living in Tokyo to leave country or move south. Two Air France planes on their way to begin evacuation.
- Radiation levels in Ibaraki, north of Tokyo, 300 times normal level but well below hazardous levels, Kyodo says.
- Fuel rods in the No. 1 reactor were 70 percent damaged and the rods in the No. 2 reactor were 33 percent damaged, Kyodo says.
- Winds over the radiation-leaking nuclear power plant in northern Japan will blow from the northwest and out into the Pacific Ocean on Wednesday, the Japan Meteorological Agency says.
- Japan's benchmark Nikkei average closes 4.5 percent up on Wednesday after suffering its worst two-day rout since 1987. The index surged over 6 percent at one point.
- Tens of thousands of people still missing since Friday's quake and tsunami. Food and water in short supply in parts of the northeast. About 850,000 households in the north without electricity in near-freezing weather
- Some residents leave the capital. Others stock up on food.
- Death toll is expected to exceed 10,000, and rescue workers are continuing to search coastal cities for survivors.
(Tokyo bureau; Compiled by World Desk Asia)
