Radiation leak found outside Japan nuclear reactor. 28 March 2011Last updated at 17:07 The BBC's Mark Worthington says many people in Japan are becoming increasingly concerned about what is going to happen in the future Highly radioactive water has been found for the first time outside one of the reactor buildings at Japan's quake-hit Fukushima nuclear plant, officials say.
The leak in a tunnel linked to the No 2 reactor has raised fears of radioactive liquid seeping into the environment. Plutonium has also been found in soil at the plant, but not at levels that threaten human health, officials say. Earlier, Japan's government strongly criticised the plant's operator, Tepco, over mistaken radiation readings. Tepco announced on Sunday that a highly radioactive pool of water in the No 2 reactor was 100 times more radioactive than it actually was. Officials said the radiation scare was caused by a partial meltdown of fuel rods.
Underground tunnel Continue reading the main story Reactor 1: Damage to the core from cooling problems. Foreign aid. 'Don't panic' over plutonium in soil at Fukushima plant. Zena Iovino, reporter Plutonium was detected in soil samples taken at five locations at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant between 21 and 22 March, according to the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO).
However, TEPCO says that only two of the five samples appear to contain plutonium released during the current crisis. The two samples in question show elevated levels of plutonium-238. Though these findings grabbed headlines on Monday, experts contacted by New Scientist say that the contamination is not severe. "I'm not going to lie awake at night worrying about these levels," says Dan Strom, staff scientist at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland, Washington, who notes that the US Environmental Protection Agency would deem soil with this level of contamination fit for farming. "If this site were to be used just for a recreational area - a parking lot or golf course - then you could easily have 100 times this level," Strom adds. Detection of radioactive material in the soil in Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station.
Fukushima Nuclear Accident Update Log. Updates of 2 June 2011 Staff Report.
