Tokyo Electric Power Company says water may be leaking from breaches in the No.1 reactor at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, causing a sharp drop in the water level inside the reactor.

Tokyo Electric sent workers inside the building to adjust the water gauge of the reactor.

The utility had suspected the gauge wasn't working properly because the water level hasn't been rising despite pumping in 150 tons of water daily to cool the reactor.

On Thursday morning, it was found that the water level was more than one meter below the bottom of the fuel rods, suggesting a large volume of water is leaking into the containment vessel.

Highly radioactive water was found leaking into the sea from the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant on Wednesday. It's now been revealed that contaminated water levels in the No. 3 reactor's turbine building were already alarmingly high by Sunday.

Tokyo Electric Power Company plugged the leak with concrete after it found highly radioactive water flowing into the sea through a pit.

Radioactive cesium 620,000 times higher than the government-set safety limit was detected from the leaked water.

The contaminated water was streaming from the outlet of a pipe for electric cables.

Tokyo Electric Power Company says the No.1 reactor at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant is believed to be in a state of "meltdown".

The utility company said on Thursday that most of the fuel rods are likely to have melted and fallen to the bottom of the reactor. Earlier in the day, it found that the coolant water in the reactor is at a level which would completely expose nuclear fuel rods if they were in their normal position.

The company believes the melted fuel has cooled down, judging from the reactor's surface temperature.

But it suspects the meltdown created a hole or holes in the bottom of the reactor causing water to leak into the containment vessel.

A radioactive substance exceeding the state limit has been detected in pasture grass and vegetables in Tochigi and Ibaraki prefectures, neighboring Fukushima Prefecture.

3,480 becquerels of radioactive cesium were detected in one kilogram of pasture grass collected on May 5th in Nikko City, Tochigi Prefecture. The figure exceeds the state limit of 300 becquerels.

Also, at two different locations in Nasushiobara City, 3,600 becquerels and 860 becquerels of radioactive cesium respectively were detected in one kilogram of pasture grass collected on May 3rd.

Tokyo Electric Power Company says an operation to transfer highly radioactive water pooled in the turbine building of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant's No.3 reactor caused contamination of the sea nearby.

Highly radioactive water was found leaking into the sea from a pit near the reactor's water intake on Wednesday.

The utility company says 1,200 becquerels of radioactive cesium 134 were detected in one cubic centimeter of sea water near the water intake on Thursday. The figure is 20,000 times the state limit. 1,200 becquerels of radioactive cesium 137, which is 13,000 times the state limit, were also detected.

A worker at the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant died Saturday after collapsing while carrying materials as part of crisis-fighting operations, with a heart attack suspected as no radioactive materials were found on him, the operator said.

he operator of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant is trying to identify where highly radioactive water from the No.1 reactor's containment vessel is flowing to, as the reactor is believed to have suffered a meltdown.

Tokyo Electric Power Company, or TEPCO, says the meltdown at the No.1 unit created holes in the reactor and damaged the containment vessel.

A large amount of highly radioactive water is believed to be leaking out, but it is not known where it is flowing.

TEPCO says the water could be flowing into the basement of the reactor building, but that workers cannot enter the site due to fear of high levels of radiation.

SHIZUOKA -- Prime Minister Naoto Kan's decision to request the closure of the Hamaoka nuclear power plant was supported by 66.2 percent of the public, according to the results of a poll released Sunday.

About 47.0 percent of the respondents also backed the idea of reducing the number of reactors in the country. The weekend telephone poll said those who think Kan should resign immediately has dropped to 17.5 percent, down 6.1 points from the previous poll in April.

....

While a significant number of respondents called for a reduction in nuclear power plants, 57.9 percent approved the government's decision to limit reactor closures to Hamaoka, apparently reflecting public concern about potential power shortages.

The government is compiling a schedule of measures to deal with the accident at the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant to provide evacuees as well as the international community a better idea of what to expect.

Prime Minister Naoto Kan is scheduled to attend the Group of Eight summit later this month and is expected to explain what the government is planning to do to stabilize the situation at the Fukushima plant, as well as in rebuilding areas struck by the Great East Japan Earthquake.

....

Sources said the timetable will be formally approved and announced May 17, in line with what is expected to be a revision of a work schedule by Tokyo Electric Power Co., the Fukushima plant operator, for how it plans to stabilize the situation.

TEPCO first announced the work schedule April 17, and had planned to revise it after about a month. Recent measurements at the No. 1 reactor indicating that large amounts of water are leaking from the containment vessel is but one factor that is forcing TEPCO to vastly revise its work schedule.

Tokyo Electric Power Co. has been forced to devise a difficult new step to cool a reactor at the stricken Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant after its attempt to flood the pressure vessel and containment vessel with water failed. TEPCO said on May 14 that 3,000 tons of water found in the basement of the No. 1 reactor building had likely leaked from the containment vessel.

The utility had fed more than 10,000 tons of water into the reactor for cooling, hoping to flood the core vessel and outer containment vessel so that damaged fuel rods will be kept submerged, in a process called "water entombment." However, some of the water apparently leaked through pipe joints in the containment vessel.

With the failure of the operation, the utility is now considering recirculating the leaked water to try to cool the fuel rods, most of which are believed to have dropped to the bottom of the pressure vessel in a meltdown. According to TEPCO, workers discovered about 3,000 tons of water in the basement of the southeastern side of the reactor building on May 13.

The operator of the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant says the March 15th explosion at the No.4 reactor building may have been caused by hydrogen from the No. 3 reactor. Tokyo Electric Power Company has been investigating the cause of the explosion and fires.

It was initially thought that the March 15th explosion was triggered by hydrogen produced by damaged spent fuel rods in a pool inside the No.4 reactor building. But photographs of the pool taken in April show no damage to the rods.

TEPCO focused on ducts from the No.4 and neighboring No.3 reactor buildings that join into a single duct before an exhaust pipe. The company says that when it vented gas from the No.3 reactor through the duct, hydrogen may have seeped into the No.4 reactor building. Hydrogen that accumulated in the upper part of the No.4 reactor building may have caused the explosion.

The ducts from 3 and 4 are joined and hydrogen leaked from 3 to 4? Who could have known? Guess they weren't monitoring the atmosphere above #4 spent fuel pool for hydrogen. It only had the biggest and hottest fuel load on the entire site.

"It is not necessary to have hope in order to persevere."