Japan's nuclear accident out of control: EU energy chief

BRUSSELS: The situation at Japan's disaster-hit nuclear power plant has spun out of control, threatening a deeper catastrophe that could cost more lives, the European Union's energy chief said on Wednesday.

"The site is effectively out of control," energy commissioner Guenther Oettinger told a European Parliament committee, one day after he said Japan was facing "apocalypse."

"In the coming hours there could be further catastrophic events which could pose a threat to the lives of people on the island," he added.

Scrambling to prevent a nuclear meltdown, Japanese crews have been dumping water on the stricken Fukushima No.1 power plant, which has been hit by a series of explosions after Friday's quake knocked out reactor cooling systems.

IAEA chief to head to Japan to face nuclear crisis

Developments at a damaged nuclear reactor in Japan are "very serious", the U.N. nuclear watchdog chief said on Wednesday as he prepared to head to the country to assess the situation.

Yukiya Amano said he hoped to fly to Japan on Thursday for a one-day trip and needed more information from authorities there.

"The situation is very serious," Amano, a Japanese national, told a news conference, saying damage to the core of three units at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear reactor had been confirmed.