Tepco struggles to halt radioactive leak
Staff discovered the 20cm-wide crack in a shaft storing supply cables close to reactor No 2. Tepco is injecting an absorbent polymer, sawdust and newspapers into the pit in its latest effort to block the leaking water, after Saturday’s attempts to plug the leak using concrete failed.
If Tepco is successful this time, concrete will be poured over the polymer to make it permanent, a government official said.
It is the first time that Tepco has discovered a source of radiation leakage into the ocean. High levels of radiation inside and outside the building were detected at the reactor No 2 in the past week.
The latest discovery underscores the continuing difficulties facing Tepco in stabilising the Daiichi plant after the March 11 earthquake and tsunami knocked out cooling systems. Yukio Edano, Japan’s chief cabinet secretary, said last week that the government hoped to be able to stem radiation leakage within weeks but new setbacks were possible and it could take years to stabilise fully the plant.
The leaking shaft contains water that was giving off radiation doses of more than 1,000 millisieverts per hour into the air in the pit, Tepco said.
Exposure to 1,000 millisieverts in one dose can cause acute radiation sickness, while cumulative exposure to the same amount is believed eventually to cause a fatal cancer in 5 per cent of cases.
It is unclear whether success in blocking the crack will stop the radiation. Tepco said it continued to search for further sources of leakage.
The utility said the bodies of its two young employees who went missing after the disasterwere found in the basement of the Daiichi plant’s No 4 reactor turbine building. They died of haemorrhage shock, Tepco said.
Separately, the government said a worker at the plant fell into the sea on Saturday but was rescued without injury and external contamination.
Naoto Kan, Japan’s prime minister, visited the town of Rikuzentakata in Iwate prefecture at the weekend. It was his first visit to the tsunami-ravaged area outside Fukushima since the disaster. He also visited a base for emergency workers at the Daiichi plant.
As Tepco continues to struggle to contain the crisis at the plant, there is heated debate over the future of the company. Mr Kan, Japan’s prime minister, dismissed speculation on Friday that his government planned to nationalise the utility, saying it should continue to act as a private business.
However, he did say that Tepco might need state help to meet the various compensation obligations likely to result from the radiation leaks at the plant.
Last month’s disaster has left 12,020 dead, 15,512 still missing and 165,282 people displaced at the latest count, the government said.
If Tepco is successful this time, concrete will be poured over the polymer to make it permanent, a government official said.
It is the first time that Tepco has discovered a source of radiation leakage into the ocean. High levels of radiation inside and outside the building were detected at the reactor No 2 in the past week.
The latest discovery underscores the continuing difficulties facing Tepco in stabilising the Daiichi plant after the March 11 earthquake and tsunami knocked out cooling systems. Yukio Edano, Japan’s chief cabinet secretary, said last week that the government hoped to be able to stem radiation leakage within weeks but new setbacks were possible and it could take years to stabilise fully the plant.
The leaking shaft contains water that was giving off radiation doses of more than 1,000 millisieverts per hour into the air in the pit, Tepco said.
Exposure to 1,000 millisieverts in one dose can cause acute radiation sickness, while cumulative exposure to the same amount is believed eventually to cause a fatal cancer in 5 per cent of cases.
It is unclear whether success in blocking the crack will stop the radiation. Tepco said it continued to search for further sources of leakage.
The utility said the bodies of its two young employees who went missing after the disasterwere found in the basement of the Daiichi plant’s No 4 reactor turbine building. They died of haemorrhage shock, Tepco said.
Separately, the government said a worker at the plant fell into the sea on Saturday but was rescued without injury and external contamination.
Naoto Kan, Japan’s prime minister, visited the town of Rikuzentakata in Iwate prefecture at the weekend. It was his first visit to the tsunami-ravaged area outside Fukushima since the disaster. He also visited a base for emergency workers at the Daiichi plant.
As Tepco continues to struggle to contain the crisis at the plant, there is heated debate over the future of the company. Mr Kan, Japan’s prime minister, dismissed speculation on Friday that his government planned to nationalise the utility, saying it should continue to act as a private business.
However, he did say that Tepco might need state help to meet the various compensation obligations likely to result from the radiation leaks at the plant.
Last month’s disaster has left 12,020 dead, 15,512 still missing and 165,282 people displaced at the latest count, the government said.
