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Japan faces new setback in fight to avert disaster at Fukushima plant

A suspected break in the core of a nuclear reactor could have been responsible for a leak of large amounts of radioactive contamination at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant, Japanese nuclear safety officials said on Friday, in another setback to efforts to avert disaster at the stricken facility.

In the latest developments, officials have said seawater outside one of the units has registered 1,250 the normal level of radiation, while efforts are under way to pump radioactive water that has pooled around the reactor turbines into safe storage. The BBC has reported that short-term radioactive iodine has been detected at very high levels in the Pacific Ocean near the plant.

The Japanese prime minister, Naoto Kan, described the situation at the plant as "very serious", while media reports said that two men who were injured while working on the plant's No.3 reactor on Thursday may have suffered internal exposure to radiation.


RADIOAKTIF DARI FUKUSHIMA AKAN SAMPAI VIENNA, March 25, Kyodo News

Radioactive substances released from Japan's crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station have already reached the United States and Iceland, and are expected to go around the globe in two to three weeks, the Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization said Thursday.

But the amount is too small to affect humans, the Vienna-based CTBTO told Kyodo News.

The commission operates a network of monitoring facilities at 63 locations in the world, including one in Takasaki, Gunma Prefecture.

A senior official at the commission's monitoring department said figures observed in Takasaki continue to go up and down and that the amount of radioactive substances from the Fukushima plant, which has been crippled by the March 11 mega earthquake and tsunami, cannot be said to be on the decrease.

Small amounts of radioactive substances were already detected at observation facilities in western California on March 18 and in Iceland on Tuesday, and they are expected to reach European countries in a few days, according to the official.

Diplomatic sources at the International Atomic Energy Agency said many Southeast Asian countries are worried about the adverse effects of the radioactive substances.

But Japan's Nuclear and Industry Safety Agency said it does not expect any impact on foreign countries, citing data observed so far.