The operator of the troubled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant on Sunday continued injecting water-absorbing polymers into a cracked pit but radioactive water was still leaking into the ocean, NHK television reported.
On Saturday, Tokyo Electric Power Company, or TEPCO, found radioactive water was seeping into the ocean from a crack in a concrete pit that contains power cables near the Number 2 reactor's water intake. The level of radiation on the surface of the pit's water was measured at over 1,000 milisieverts per hour, NHK reported.
Japan's nuclear watchdog said the crack could be the source of recent seawater contamination.
There could be other similar cracks, Hidehiko Nishiyama, deputy head of Japan's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency, told a news conference.
Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan made his first visit to area of northeaster Japan worst hit by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami earlier on Saturday. He visited an evacuee shelter and met with emergency crews battling to prevent massive radiation fallout at the nuclear plant.
The death toll from the quake and tsunami has neared 12,000, while nearly 16,500 remain unaccounted for.
MOSCOW, April 3 (RIA Novosti)
