Crack at Japan plant spills radiation into sea

Compiled from news reports

TOKYO -- Japan's tsunami-stricken nuclear power plant was leaking highly radioactive water into the sea Saturday, nuclear safety officials said.

The plant has been spewing radioactivity since March 11, when a magnitude-9.0 earthquake and ensuing tsunami knocked out power, disabling cooling systems and allowing radiation to seep out of the overheating reactors.

The water was seeping from a newly discovered crack in a maintenance pit on the edge of the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear site into the Pacific Ocean, Japan Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency spokesman Hidehiko Nishiyama said.

Measurements show the air right above it contained 1,000 millisieverts of radioactivity. Exposure to 500 millisieverts over a short period of time can increase the long-term risk of cancer. But experts say radiation is quickly diluted by the vast Pacific and that even large amounts have little effect.

Japanese workers struggling to contain a crisis at a crippled nuclear plant discovered a crack in a pit leaking highly radioactive water straight into the sea, the firm operating the facility said.

As emergency crews rushed to cement the crack, the Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) said it is also preparing to take samples from the ocean near the Fukushima nuclear plant to determine the level of contamination.

"Today, at about 9:30 a.m. (0030 GMT), workers found that some water, with a radioactivity of 1,000 millisievert per hour, had accumulated in a pit near reactor number two's water intake facility," a TEPCO official said.

"They then found that a 20 centimeter (eight-inch) crack had emerged in the pit and that radioactive water was leaking directly into the sea."

일본원전 오염수 바다 직접유입 첫 확인

도쿄 -- 일본 후쿠시마 제1원자력발전소에서 방사성 물질 고농도 오염수가 직접 바다로 유출된 것이 처음으로 확인됐다.

도쿄전력은 2일 오전 9시30분께 후쿠시마 원전 2호기의 취수구 부근에 있는 전기 케이블 보관 시설에서 20㎝ 정도의 균열이 발견됐으며, 이 곳에 고여있던 물이 바다로 유출된 것을 확인했다고 발표했다.

이 물에서는 1시간당 1천밀리시버트를 넘는 고농도 방사선이 측정됐다. 전기케이블 보관 시설은 깊이가 약 2ｍ였고 10-20㎝의 오염수가 고여있었다.

도쿄전력은 전기케이블 보관시설의 갈라진 틈을 콘크리트로 메워 오염수의 유출을 막는 작업을 실시했다. (연합뉴스)