The source of the leak was identified as a 20cm (8in) crack in a containment pit at reactor No 2 Japan dumps radioactive water in sea
The source of the leak was identified as a 20cm (8in) crack in a containment pit at reactor No 2 Workers at Japan’s quake-hit nuclear plant are using dye to try to trace the route of highly radioactive water flowing from a reactor into the sea.
The source of the leak was identified at the weekend as a 20cm (8in) crack in a concrete pit at reactor 2.
Earlier efforts to plug the hole using a highly absorbent polymer failed.
Meanwhile, the plant’s operator, Tepco, says it has no choice but to dump 11,500 tonnes of much less contaminated water at sea from Tuesday.
The move is to free up storage space at the Fukushima Daiichi facility for water with much higher levels of radioactivity.
Workers must keep spraying water on the reactors to stop them overheating, but pools are building up at the power plant, says the BBC’s Roland Buerk in Tokyo.
The water to be released into the sea contains 100 times the legal limit of radiation – a relatively low level, our correspondent says.
Fukushima update (4 April)Reactor 1: Damage to the core from cooling problems. Building holed by gas explosion. Radioactive water detected in reactor and basement, and groundwaterReactor 2: Damage to the core from cooling problems. Building holed by gas blast. Highly radioactive water detected in reactor and adjoining tunnel. Crack identified in containment pitReactor 3: Damage to the core from cooling problems. Building holed by gas blast; containment damage possible. Spent fuel pond partly refilled with water after running low. Radioactive water detected in reactor and basementReactor 4: Reactor shut down prior to quake. Fires and explosion in spent fuel pond; water level partly restoredReactors 5 & 6: Reactors shut down. Temperature of spent fuel pools now lowered after rising highJapan plant: Radioactive leaks In graphics: Fukushima crisis Q&A: Health effects of radiation
The government says there will be no effect on human health.
Tepco has been been struggling for more than three weeks to regain control at the plant after a huge quake and tsunami knocked out the cooling systems.
Japan’s top government spokesman said the leak from reactor 2 must be stopped “as soon as possible”.
The cumulative effects of a possible long-term leak “will have a huge impact on the ocean”, Yukio Edano told a news conference on Monday.
Tepco said it would inject the polymer again to try to block the flow of radioactive water as soon as it had identified the path of the leak.
As a temporary measure, the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency is considering building embankments of silt near reactor No 2 to stem the leak into the ocean.
The official death toll from the 9.0-magnitude earthquake and tsunami which struck north-east Japan on 11 March stands at 12,157, with nearly 15,500 people still unaccounted for.
More than 80% of the victims have been identified and their bodies returned to their families.
Search operations within the 20km exclusion zone around the Fukushima Daiichi power plant have been suspended because of radiation concerns.
More than 161,000 people from quake-ravaged areas are living in evacuation centres, officials say.
A three-day joint operation by Japan’s Self-Defense Forces and the US military to find the missing recovered 78 bodies.
The operation, which ended on Sunday, involved about 25,000 troops, more than 60 ships and 120 aircraft.
It covered Pacific coastal areas of Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures.
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