Leak of highly radioactive water from nuke plant decreasing: TEPCO+

TOKYO, April 6 Kyodo -
Tokyo Electric Power Co. said Tuesday its latest move to stem the leak of highly radioactive water into the Pacific Ocean from the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant may be working as the flow seems to be decreasing.
The utility, known as TEPCO, injected 1,500 liters of ''water glass,'' or sodium silicate, and another agent near a seaside pit where the highly radioactive water is seeping through.
''The volume of the flow appears to have decreased and there may have been some effect,'' a TEPCO official said.
Separately, the operator continued to dump lower-level contaminated water into the sea from a facility at the complex to make room for the storage of more highly contaminated water currently filling the No. 2 reactor's turbine building and nearby areas, a move which has sparked concern overseas.
The government's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency told a press conference that TEPCO is expected to continue injecting the agent in the hope of completely stopping the leak of highly contaminated water.
But the marine environment appears to be seriously contaminated already. A seawater sample taken Saturday near the No. 2 reactor's water intake showed a radioactive iodine-131 concentration of 7.5 million times the maximum permitted level under law, TEPCO said Tuesday.
Radioactive cesium exceeding the maximum permitted limit was detected in young sand lance in the sea near the northern part of Ibaraki Prefecture, south of Fukushima. It is the first time that contamination levels in seafood have exceeded the limit.
The company said it will have to discharge a total of 11,500 tons of low-level contaminated water from the plant into the sea by this weekend.
Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Banri Kaieda maintained that contamination of the sea caused by the disposal of the water will not pose a major risk to health, while apologizing for raising concern among the public, especially fishermen.
The highly radioactive water has been filling up the basement of the No. 2 reactor turbine building and the trench connected to it. The water, believed to have come from the No. 2 reactor core, where fuel rods have partially melted, ended up in the pit.
The nuclear agency said a total of 60,000 tons of water -- 20,000 tons each in the Nos. 1-3 reactor turbine buildings and trenches connected to them -- will be stored in tanks at the units, a facility for nuclear waste disposal at the site, an artificial floating island called a ''megafloat,'' U.S. Navy barges and provisional tanks.
The complex for nuclear waste disposal can accommodate 30,000 tons of water, while the provisional tanks will be shipped to the Fukushima plant by the end of this month, it added.
The utility also said it had finally determined that the highly radioactive water is flowing into the sea via graveled areas beneath the bottom of the pit.
Removal of contaminated water at the plant is necessary to reduce the risk of workers being exposed to radioactive substances and to facilitate efforts to restore vital functions to cool down the reactors and spent nuclear fuel pools at the complex, crippled since the devastating March 11 quake and tsunami.
The utility has been pouring massive amounts of water into the reactors and their spent nuclear fuel pools as a stopgap measure to cool them down but the measure is believed to be linked to the possible leak of highly contaminated water from the reactors.