Japan Hunts for Nuke Leak Source

Kyodo News reports:

Tokyo Electric Power Co. used colored powder Monday to trace the source of highly radioactive water leaking into the sea near the troubled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, while mulling the use of silt-barriers in the sea to prevent the further spread of radiation.

The plant operator poured 13 kilograms of the powder into an underground trench to find the point from where radioactive water is leaking into the Pacific Ocean in front of the plant, after its attempt to block the leakage from a cracked seaside pit connected to the No. 2 reactor turbine building showed no effect so far.

Radioactive water has been filling up the basement of the No. 2 reactor turbine building and the tunnel-like trench connected to it. The powder was injected into the trench shortly after 7 a.m. but did not come out from the crack as of 11 a.m., according to the company officials.

''We must prevent radioactive water from spreading in the sea as soon as possible,'' Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said, adding that the longer the contamination continued, the larger the impact on the sea would be, even if radioactive materials were diluted.

While efforts are continuing to track down the water flow, the company known as TEPCO is considering installing ''silt fence'' barriers in areas where radioactive water is suspected to be flowing into the sea, Hidehiko Nishiyama, a spokesman for the government's nuclear safety agency told a press conference in the morning.