Workers struggle to plug leak at Japan nuclear plant

A first attempt to plug a cracked concrete shaft that is leaking highly radioactive water into the ocean off Japan failed Saturday, so officials are now exploring alternatives, spokesmen for Tokyo Electric Power Co. said.

Power plant workers had been trying to fill the shaft with fresh concrete, but that did not change the amount of water coming out of the crack, the spokesmen said at a news conference that ran late into the night Saturday.

Their “plan B” is to use polymers to stop the leak, the spokesmen said. A Tokyo Electric expert will visit the site Sunday morning and decide what polymer to use before the work begins.

Officials announced Thursday, based on samples taken the previous afternoon 330 meters (361 yards) off the plant, that seawater showed levels of iodine-131 measuring 4,385 times above the standard and cesium-137 at 527 times beyond normal. Experts say the latter radioactive isotope may be a greater concern because it persists longer, since it takes 30 years to lose half its radiation — compared to an eight-day half-life for the iodine-131 isotope.

While officials know the radioactive water is coming from the cracked pipe, they don’t yet know where it originates.

Japan Nuclear Crises Takes Ominous Turn, More Radiation Detected in Western U.S.

As the Japan nuclear crises worsened today, it was also learned that several more Western states have detected small amounts of radiation that apparently made its way across the Pacific Ocean. According to a statement on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the radioactive materials being detected thus far — “are far below levels of concern.”

Colorado and Oregon are the latest states to have detected the radiation. According to CNN, authorities in Colorado said in a press release Wednesday that sampling from a monitor there detected miniscule amounts of iodine-131, a radioactive form of iodine. Oregon public health officials said an EPA monitor in that state also picked up tiny amounts iodine 131.

Sampling of these radioactive particles from these and other monitors will be further analyzed at the EPA’s national lab, the agency said.

According to CNN, the monitors have also picked up radioactive iodine, cesium and tellurium at four RadNet air monitor filters on the West Coast — three in California and one in Washington. As we reported previously, small amount of radioactive materials from Japan have also been detected in Hawaii.

Unfortunately, media outlets are reporting that there has been a serious breach in the core of one of the plant’s stricken nuclear reactors, which could mean more serious radioactive contamination.

Highly radioactive water was also found in the turbine buildings at Units 1 and 2, MSNBC said.

As we’ve reported previously, since the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant began leaking radiation, radioactivity has shown up in vegetables and milk produced in some Japanese prefectures, and radiation has been detected 200 miles away in Tokyo’s tap water. But according to MSNBC, experts still maintain that radiation leaking from the plant is mainly below levels of exposure from flights or dental and medical X-rays.

Less than 4 percent of the food imported into the U.S. comes from Japan. According to the FDA, the most common Japanese imports include seafood, snack foods and processed fruits and vegetables.