Japan scrambles to avert nuclear disaster

Operators of a quake-crippled nuclear plant in Japan are trying again on Thursday to use military helicopters to douse overheating reactors, as U.S. officials warned of a rising risk of a catastrophic radiation leak from spent fuel rods. Meanwhile, health experts said panic over radiation leaks from the Daiichi plant was also diverting attention from other threats to survivors of Friday's 9.0 magnitude quake and tsunami, such as the cold or access to fresh water. Refresh this page for latest updates.

2:39pm: The secretary general of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Angel Gurria, says he believes the cost of the Japanese earthquake and tsunami to the country's economy will be 2% of the country's GDP. But he told BBC Radio that he believed reconstruction could provide a boost to the economy and that it would be funded by the Japanese people - not the international community.2: 20pm: Initial attempts to drop tons of water at the quake-ravaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant appear to have done little to lower potentially perilous radiation levels close to the facility, saysCNN.

Helicopters made four passes in about a 20-minute span Thursday morning, dropping 7.5 tons of seawater each time on the facility's No. 3 reactor in order to cool its overheated fuel pool.

2:17pm: The really scary part of the events at the Fukushima nuclear reactor is the stories coming through of mismanagement, faulty communications (see update of 11.15 am) and such. Reading them makes you wonder: If that is how things are in highly disciplined, organized Japan, what hope for chaotic, institutionally corrupt India? A Yahoo News story looks at the situation. Quote: "Behind Japan's escalating nuclear crisis sits a scandal-ridden energy industry in a comfy relationship with government regulators often willing to overlook safety lapses. Leaks of radioactive steam and workers contaminated with radiation are just part of the disturbing catalog of accidents that have occurred over the years and been belatedly reported to the public, if at all. In one case, workers hand-mixed uranium in stainless steel buckets, instead of processing by machine, so the fuel could be reused, exposing hundreds of workers to radiation. Two later died. "Everything is a secret," said Kei Sugaoka, a former nuclear power plant engineer in Japan who now lives in California. "There's not enough transparency in the industry."1:45pm: The number of dead from the 9.0-magnitude earthquake and subsequent tsunami in Japan has risen to 5,321, authorities said.