TOKYO — A possible breach at Japan’s troubled nuclear plant escalated the crisis anew Friday, two full weeks after an earthquake and tsunami first compromised the facility. The development suggested radioactive contamination might be worse than first thought, with tainted groundwater the most likely consequence.
Japanese leaders defended their decision not to evacuate people from a wider area around the plant, insisting they are safe if they stay indoors. But officials also said residents might want to voluntarily move to areas with better facilities because supplies in the tsunami-devastated region are running short.
The escalation in the nuclear plant crisis came as the death toll from the quake and tsunami passed 10,000 Friday. Across the battered northeastern coast, hundreds of thousands of people whose homes were destroyed still have no power, no hot meals and, in many cases, no showers for 14 days.
The uncertain nuclear situation again halted work at the Fukushima Daiichi complex, where authorities have been scrambling to stop the overheated facility from leaking dangerous radiation. Low levels of radiation have been seeping out since the March 11 quake and tsunami knocked out the plant’s cooling system, but a breach could mean a much larger release of contaminants.
“The situation today at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant is still very grave and serious. We must remain vigilant,” said a somber Prime Minister Naoto Kan. “We are not in a position where we can be optimistic. We must treat every development with the utmost care.”
The possible breach in the plant’s Unit 3 might be a crack or a hole in the stainless steel chamber of the reactor core or in the spent fuel pool that is lined with several feet of reinforced concrete. The temperature and pressure inside the core, which holds the fuel rods, remained stable and were far lower than what would further melt the core.
Suspicions of a possible breach were raised when two workers suffered skin burns after wading into water 10,000 times more radioactive than levels normally found in water in or around a reactor, the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency said.
Water with equally high radiation levels was found in the Unit 1 reactor building, Tokyo Electric Power Co. officials said. Water was also discovered in Units 2 and 4, and the company said it suspects that, too, is radioactive. Officials acknowledged the water would delay work inside the plant.
A breach could mean a leak has been seeping for days, likely since the hydrogen explosion at Unit 3 on March 14. It’s not clear whether any of the contaminated water has run into the ground.
