Video - Mar. 28, 2011
Workers trying to prevent a total meltdown at a Japanese nuclear power plant suffered another setback Monday when they found a pool of highly radioactive water leaking from the crippled facility.
"The trench is located outside the building and the water contains radioactive materials," Hiro Hasegawa, a spokesman for the Tokyo Electric Power Co., told The Daily Telegraph of London. "There is normally no water found in this area."
The sea - and it's vulnerable eco-system - is just 200 feet from the the Fukushima Daiichi plant. "We do not believe (the radioctive water) is leaking into the ocean," Hasegawa said. "We are now working out where the cause of the leak is and finding ways to remove the water as soon as possible."
The discovery of the potentially deadly pool came just a day after officials evacuated the area around reactor No. 2 when water puddles 100,000 times more radioactive than normal were found.
"The radiation seems to have come from the fuel rods that were partially melted down and came into contact with the water used to cool the reactor," government spokesman Yukio Edano said.
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Plutonium Detected In Soil At Fukushima Nuclear Plant
TOKYO (Kyodo)--Plutonium has been detected in soil at five locations at the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, Tokyo Electric Power Co. said Monday.
The operator of the nuclear complex said that the plutonium is believed to have been discharged from nuclear fuel at the plant, which was damaged by the devastating March 11 earthquake and tsunami.
http://e.nikkei.com/e/fr/tnks/Nni20110328D28NY579.htm