http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42397653/from/RSS/
Missing workers found dead at Japan nuclear plant
Effort to plug up leak of radioactive water into Pacific Ocean fails
RIKUZENTAKATA, Japan — Two missing Fukushima nuclear plant workers were found dead on Sunday as more highly radioactive water spilled into the sea and authorities struggled to seal the leak.
The two workers — a 21-year-old and a 24-year-old — had been missing since a massive March 11 earthquake and tsunami, but their bodies were discovered only last week at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear complex.
Damage to the plant from the tsunami has spiraled into the world's worst nuclear crisis since the 1986 meltdown at Chernobyl in the former Soviet Union.
"It pains me that these two young workers were trying to protect the power plant while being hit by the earthquake and tsunami," Tokyo Electric Power Co. Chairman Tsunehisa Katsumata said in a statement.
The announcement of the death was delayed out of consideration for the families, said Naoki Tsunoda, a spokesman for TEPCO.
The men sustained multiple external injuries and are believed to have died from blood loss, Tsunoda said. Their bodies had to be decontaminated because radiation has been spewing from the plant over the past three weeks.
The National Police Agency said that 12,009 people were officially reported dead and 15,472 missing in the aftermath of the magnitude-9.0 earthquake and tsunami.
On Saturday, workers discovered an 8-inch-long crack in a maintenance pit at the Fukushima plant that they said was believed to have been caused by the earthquake. Water containing levels of radioactive iodine far above the legal limit spilled from it into the Pacific, said Hidehiko Nishiyama of Japan's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency.
A picture released by TEPCO shows water shooting some distance away from a wall and splashing into the sea, though the amount of water was not clear. The contaminated water was expected to quickly dissipate in the ocean but could pose a danger to workers at the plant.
Pooling water at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear complex — which is believed to come from the reactor cores — has repeatedly forced technicians to pull back and suspend their work.
Word of the leak came Saturday as Prime Minister Naoto Kan toured the town of Rikuzentakata, his first trip to survey damage in one of the dozens of villages, towns and cities slammed by the tsunami.
"The government has been too focused on the Fukushima power plant rather than the tsunami victims. Both deserve attention," said 35-year-old Megumi Shimanuki, who was visiting her family at a community center converted into a shelter in hard-hit Natori, about 100 miles from Rikuzentakata.
More than 165,000 are still living in shelters, and tens of thousands more still do not have electricity or running water.
Although the government had rushed to provide relief, its attention has been divided by the efforts at the Fuskushima plant.
The plant's reactors overheated to dangerous levels after electrical pumps — deprived of power — failed to circulate water to keep them cool. A series of almost daily problems have led to substantial amounts of radiation leaking into the atmosphere, ground and sea. Huge hydrogen explosions destroyed the buildings surrounding two of the reactors.
Over the past 10 days, pools of contaminated water have been found throughout the plant and high levels of radioactivity have been measured in the ocean, but this marks the first time authorities said they had found a spot where the water was directly entering the sea.
A search of the plant found no other similar leaks leading directly to the ocean. "We believe that's the only crack," said Tsunoda, the TEPCO spokesman.
Soon after the discovery, workers tried to seal the crack but could not get the concrete to dry. Next, they will try injecting polymer, according to Tsunoda.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110403/ap_on_bi_ge/as_japan_earthquake
Engineers fail to seal leak at Japan nuke plant
TOKYO – Engineers failed to seal a crack where highly radioactive water was spilling into the Pacific from a Japanese nuclear power plant incapacitated by last month's earthquake-spawned tsunami but said a search of the site found no other leaks Sunday.
The wave has carved a path of destruction up and down the coast and is believed to have killed 25,000 people. The first deaths at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant itself, though, were confirmed Sunday by the operator. A 21-year-old and a 24-year-old were believed to be conducting regular checks at the complex when the 9.0-magnitude earthquake hit March 11.
"It pains me that these two young workers were trying to protect the power plant while being hit by the earthquake and tsunami," Tokyo Electric Power Co. Chairman Tsunehisa Katsumata said in a statement.
It was unclear why the men did not evacuate when the quake hit.
The bodies were not discovered until Wednesday and had to be decontaminated. The announcement was delayed out of respect for the victims' families, TEPCO spokesman Naoki Tsunoda said.
Radiation has been spewing from the plant, leaking into the air, ground and sea. On Saturday, authorities discovered a crack from which radioactive water was spilling into the Pacific — the first time they identified a direct source of sea contamination.
A picture released by TEPCO shows water shooting some distance away from a wall and splashing into the sea, though the amount of water was not clear. The contaminated water will quickly dissipate in the ocean but could pose a danger to workers at the plant.
Pooling water at the nuclear complex — which is believed to ultimately come from the reactor cores — has repeatedly forced technicians to pull back and suspend their work.
After the massive tsunami knocked out power to the plant three weeks ago, cooling systems failed, and the reactors have been dangerously overheating since. A series of almost daily problems has led to substantial amounts of radiation leaking into the atmosphere, ground and sea in the world's worst nuclear crisis since the 1986 meltdown at Chernobyl in the former Soviet Union.
The 8-inch- (20-centimeter-) long crack in a maintenance pit at the Fukushima plant is believed to have been caused by the 9.0-magnitude earthquake that generated the wave. Water containing levels of radioactive iodine far above the legal limit spilled from it into the Pacific, said Hidehiko Nishiyama of Japan's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency.
Workers flooded the pit with concrete in an effort to seal the crack but couldn't get it to dry.
Next, they plan to inject polymer into a pipe that connects the pit to the rest of the system. Polymer can absorb enormous amounts of water and expands 50 times its original size.
Over the past 10 days, pools of contaminated water have been found throughout the plant and high levels of radioactivity have been measured in the ocean.
A search of the plant found no other similar leaks leading directly to the ocean. "We believe that's the only crack," said Tsunoda.
People living within 12 miles (20 kilometers) of the plant have been evacuated, but, as with previous leaks, it could pose a danger to workers.
A nuclear plant worker who fell into the ocean Friday while trying to board a barge carrying water to help cool the plant did not show any immediate signs of being exposed to unsafe levels of radiation, nuclear safety officials said Saturday, but they were waiting for test results to be sure.
Workers have been reluctant to talk to the media about what they are experiencing, but one who spent several days at the plant described difficult conditions in an anonymous interview published Saturday in the national Mainichi newspaper.
When he was called in mid-March to help restore power at the plant, he said he did not tell his family because he didn't want them to worry. But he did tell a friend to notify his parents if he did not return in two weeks.
"I feel very strongly that there is nobody but us to do this job, and we cannot go home until we finish the work," he said.
Early on, the company ran out of full radiation suits, forcing workers to create improvised versions of items such as nylon booties they were supposed to pull over their shoes.
Radiation worries have compounded the misery for people trying to recover from the tsunami. So far, 12,000 deaths have been confirmed, and another 15,400 people are missing.
Sunday marks the last day of an all-out joint search by the U.S. and Japanese militaries for bodies in coastal waters. The effort is probably the final hope for retrieving the dead.