A broker walks between fish market fish Hirakata in Kitaibaraki, the Japan, trade for the first time since the disaster of earthquake and tsunami on March 11. (Toru Yamanaka / AFP/Getty Images / April 5, 2011)The operator of the Fukushima nuclear plant disaster of the Japan said Tuesday that he had found radioactive iodine to 7.5 million times the legal limit, in a sea water sample taken near the facility and officials imposed a new limit of radioactivity in fish health.The reading of iodine-131 was registered Saturday, said Tokyo Electric Power Co.. Another sample taken Monday found at level 5 million times the legal limit. Monday samples were also found to contain radioactive cesium to 1.1 million times the legal limit.
The exact source of the radiation was not immediately clear, although Tepco said that highly contaminated water was leaking a pit near the No. 2 reactor. The utility initially believed that the leak was from a crack, but several attempts to seal the crack failed.
Tuesday, the company said that the leak instead could come from a defective joint, where the sky meets a duct, allowing the water to seep into a layer of gravel below radioactive. The utility said that it might inject "liquid glass" gravel to stop more than leak.
In the meantime, Tepco continued releasing what he described as water contaminated with low levels of radiation in the sea to make space in the storage tanks on-site for more highly contaminated water. In all, the company said it expected release 11 500 tonnes of water, but by Tuesday morning, he had left less than 25% of this amount.
Although the Government has authorized the publication of the 11 500 tonnes and said that any radiation could be quickly diluted and dispersed in the ocean, fish with high readings of iodine are located.
Monday, officials detected more than 4 000 becquerels of iodine 131 per kilogram in a type of fish called a lance took less than three miles off the coast of the city of Kita-Ibaraki. Young fish contained also 447 becquerels of cesium-137, which is considered as more problematic than iodine-131, because it has a much longer half-life.
Tuesday the Secretary to the cabinet Chief Yukio Edano said that the Government impose a standard of 2 000 becquerels of iodine per kilogram of fish, the same level it enables in vegetables. Previously, the Government lacks a specific level for fish. Another route of Lance with 526 becquerels of cesium was detected Tuesday, more than the standard of 500 becquerels per kilogram.
Fishing for sand lances has been suspended. Local fishermen called Tepco to stop the release of radioactive water into the sea and demanded that the company compensate them for their losses.
Fishing was banned near the plant, and the vast majority of the fishing activities in the region was interrupted because of damage to the boats and ports by the tsunami on March 11 and the earthquake. Yet, some fishermen are to catch, to see the lack of interested buyers because of fears of radiation.
It was not clear that Tepco may provide fishermen, but the company said Tuesday that he had offered "condolence payments", for a total of 180 million yen ($2 million) for the residents who had to evacuate their homes due to the radiation of the Fukushima plant. A city, however, refused payment.
The company has yet to decide how it will compensate residents near the plant in damages, although analysts say that the claims could be tens of billions of dollars. Executive Vice President of TEPCO said Takashi Fujimoto on damages company's decision hinges on how much of the burden the Government will do share.
Edano urged the company to accelerate its decisions on compensation.
For now, the company has offered to give 20 million yen ($ 240,000) each of the 10 villages and towns within 12 miles of the plant, Fujimoto said.
"We hope they will find of some use for the moment," he said.
Namie, a city of would be, located approximately 6 miles north of the plant, refused to lend money. Official city Kosei Negishi said that he and other officials working out of an Office of fortune in the city of Nihonmatsu in Fukushima Prefecture and had more pressing.
"The coastal areas of Namie have been hit by the earthquake of Earth and the tsunami, but due to radiation and the evacuation order, we did not have the opportunity to search for 200 people missing," said Negishi. "Why would we use our resources below 1,000 yen ($12) each resident?
Tokyo Electric Power Fujimoto acknowledged that he had a "divide" in the views of the company and officials Namie.
TEPCO shares dropped to a record, passing down Tuesday by the maximum daily commercial - about 18% - to 362 yen, below the previous record low of 393 yen reached in December 1951. The company has lost 80% of its value - almost 1.1 billion yen - since the earthquake and tsunami, according to the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
"We take very seriously the decline in the price of the shares," Fujimoto told journalists.
Annual earnings report said Fujimoto of the company, which was originally scheduled for April 28, would be postponed, but he declined to give other details.
Julie.MAKINEN@LAtimes.com
Hall special correspondent is.
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