Reply #9: Fence in Pacific to try to corral radiation coming from nuclear plant

[kristopher]

Fence in Pacific to try to corral radiation coming from nuclear plant

Tokyo (CNN) -- Workers at the stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant are onto Plan C in their bid to stop highly radioactive water from gushing directly into the Pacific Ocean through a cracked concrete shaft, a Japanese nuclear official said Monday.

Neither of the first two attempts to fill up the 20-centimeter (8-inch) crack outside the No. 2 reactor's turbine building -- on Saturday by pouring in concrete, and then Sunday by using a chemical compound mixed with sawdust and newspaper -- has been successful.

This is the latest, but hardly the only challenge at the nuclear plant, 240 kilometers (150 miles) north of Tokyo. The facility has been in constant crisis since the epic March 11 quake and subsequent tsunami knocked out systems that kept nuclear fuel cool and was followed by several explosions.

As they mull other ways to cut off the leak at its source, workers will install a silt fence along a damaged sea wall surrounding the plant, Hidehiko Nishiyama of Japan's nuclear and industrial safety agency said Monday. The aim of this screening, which is usually used to halt erosion at construction sites, is to prohibit the spread of radioactive particles into the sea.

Workers also ...

http://edition.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/asiapcf/04/04/japan.nuclear.reactors/index.html