By IANS/RIA Novosti,
Tokyo : Highly radioactive water is leaking into the sea from Japan’s tsunami-hit Fukushima nuclear power plant, its operator said Saturday.
The Tokyo Electric Power Co. said it was preparing to pour concrete into a maintenance pit under reactor No.2 to try to block a 20-cm crack, NHK television reported.
Japan’s nuclear watchdog said the crack could be the source of recent seawater contamination.
There could be other similar cracks, said Hidehiko Nishiyama, deputy head of the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency.
Prime Minister Naoto Kan earlier Saturday made his first visit to the area hit by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami. He visited an evacuee shelter and met emergency crews battling working at the nuclear plant.
The toll in the incident has risen to 11,800, while 15,540 people were still unaccounted for till Saturday, the National Police Agency said.