FUKUSHIMA —
Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) succeeded in stopping highly radioactive water from leaking into the Pacific Ocean from the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant early Wednesday morning after injecting a chemical agent, it said.
In a bid to stem the leak, TEPCO injected about 6,000 liters of ‘‘water glass,’’ or sodium silicate, and another agent around a seaside pit located near the plant’s No. 2 reactor water intake, through which the highly radioactive water had been leaking heavily.
The leak has apparently seriously contaminated the marine environment, as a seawater sample taken near the water intake Saturday showed a radioactive iodine-131 concentration of 7.5 million times the maximum level permitted under law.
As the first case of contamination levels in seafood have exceeded the limit, radioactive cesium over the limit was detected in young launce in the sea near the northern part of Ibaraki Prefecture.
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.
In order to make room for the storage of the highly contaminated water, TEPCO also continued to dump low-level contaminated water into the sea.
While officials have said the crack in a maintenance pit plugged was the only one found, they have not explicitly ruled out that radioactive water is leaking into the sea from another point.
Authorities insisted the radioactive water would dissipate and posed no immediate threat to sea creatures or people who might eat them. Most experts agreed.
Radiation concerns in the area intensified after the discovery over the weekend of the crack, which photos showed water pouring out of and splashing into the sea.
Since then, workers have raced to find a way to seal it, pouring in concrete and injecting a mixture of polymer, sawdust and shredded newspaper. Both failed.
But TEPCO spokesman Naoki Tsunoda said the injection of 400 gallons (1,500 liters) of “water glass,” or sodium silicate, and another agent near a seaside pit appeared to be successful.
It was a rare bit of good news for the utility that owns the crippled nuclear plant. But highly contaminated water continues to pool around the complex. Tsunoda said officials were investigating whether the contaminated water is leaking from other places.
TEPCO stops leak of radioactive water into Pacific
