.- Japanese engineers struggled on Sunday to end the nuclear crisis worst since Chernobyl in the world trying to seal a crack that has been leaking radioactive material into the sea from a damaged reactor. The drama of the Fukushima Daiichi complex of six reactors and entered its fourth week, terrorizing the world nuclear industry and increasing the suffering of Japan after an earthquake and tsunami that left about 27 in 1500 people dead or missing.
Radiation has leaked into the ocean, food, clean water and air. Engineers are working to cool the nuclear fuel rods overheated and regain control of the damaged reactor. Experts say that beyond the natural disaster, there is minimal risk to human health in remote parts of Japan or abroad.
But the country is months of work to control the plant, followed by years of cleaning and containment of the nuclear crisis triggered worst since Chernobyl in 1986. "The main concern of the Japanese people is when they stop the leak of radioactive substances," said Goshi Hosono, a ruling party lawmaker and adviser to Prime Minister Naoto Kan.
During the weekend the plant operator, Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO), found a crack in a concrete hole in its reactor complex number two in the Fukushima Daiichi, which generated a thousand readings mSv of radiation per hour the air inside. The leak did not stop after the concrete was poured into the pit and TEPCO will use polymers that absorb water to prevent the discharge more pollution.
The crack might have been the source of the leak that has been sending radiation in sea water at levels four thousand times beyond the legal limit. To cool the damaged reactor number two, engineers are exploring options for pumping water, including a makeshift air conditioning system, spraying the fuel rods from the reactor with water vapor or use the cleaning system of the plant.
"We must not let our guard down as the situation at the nuclear plant is unpredictable," said Chief Cabinet Secretary, Yukio Edan, who has been the face of government since the disaster of 11 March. Under enormous pressure over his handling of the crisis and security preconditions, TEPCO confirmed Sunday that two employees missing since March 11 were found dead in the basement, and said that possibly killed by the tsunami.
Journalists plied officials with questions about why the bodies of 21 men and 24 were not found before and how they died, while others survived. The largest electric utilities in Japan, TEPCO shares have fallen 80 percent since the beginning of the tragedy and its chief executive is in a hospital.
Several hundred Japanese protested on Sunday against the nuclear plant to the company's offices in Tokyo. Damage from the magnitude 9.0 earthquake and tsunami which followed minutes later on the northeast coast of Japan could reach 300 billion dollars, the costliest natural disaster in the world.
Kan Saturday toured the devastated coastal villages in northern Japan, giving refugees the Government's support to rebuild their homes and regain their lifestyle. Farmers in rural areas surrounding the nuclear plant fear that consumers will reject their crops in Japan, given its origin in the provinces of Fukushima.
"There is no way that we will be able to sell something," said the farmer of 73 years Akio Abiko. "People in Tokyo is too sensitive to this kind of thing," he said. Some disgruntled farmers traveled to Tokyo from Fukushima during the weekend and used Geiger counters to prove to people that their products are safe.
Though it has been over three weeks since the quake, about 164 thousand people still in evacuation centers. The heartbreaking stories of survivors are still emerging to tell the arrival of the tsunami. Tatako public servant Suzuki, 40, narrowly escaped when the water rose to within a few inches from the ceiling of an evacuation center where they had taken refuge.
"I thought it was over, but fortunately the water stopped and started backing up," he told Reuters. Suzuki spent the night immersed in the water along with 11 other survivors, bodies floating around them. Thousands of Japanese and U.S. soldiers have been searching for bodies, using dozens of boats and helicopters to comb areas still under water on the northeast coast.
The teams hope that when the huge tide drops it easier to find the bodies of the victims in a nation where appropriate funeral rites are central to the Buddhist culture. 
Radiation has leaked into the ocean, food, clean water and air. Engineers are working to cool the nuclear fuel rods overheated and regain control of the damaged reactor. Experts say that beyond the natural disaster, there is minimal risk to human health in remote parts of Japan or abroad.
But the country is months of work to control the plant, followed by years of cleaning and containment of the nuclear crisis triggered worst since Chernobyl in 1986. "The main concern of the Japanese people is when they stop the leak of radioactive substances," said Goshi Hosono, a ruling party lawmaker and adviser to Prime Minister Naoto Kan.
During the weekend the plant operator, Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO), found a crack in a concrete hole in its reactor complex number two in the Fukushima Daiichi, which generated a thousand readings mSv of radiation per hour the air inside. The leak did not stop after the concrete was poured into the pit and TEPCO will use polymers that absorb water to prevent the discharge more pollution.
The crack might have been the source of the leak that has been sending radiation in sea water at levels four thousand times beyond the legal limit. To cool the damaged reactor number two, engineers are exploring options for pumping water, including a makeshift air conditioning system, spraying the fuel rods from the reactor with water vapor or use the cleaning system of the plant.
"We must not let our guard down as the situation at the nuclear plant is unpredictable," said Chief Cabinet Secretary, Yukio Edan, who has been the face of government since the disaster of 11 March. Under enormous pressure over his handling of the crisis and security preconditions, TEPCO confirmed Sunday that two employees missing since March 11 were found dead in the basement, and said that possibly killed by the tsunami.
Journalists plied officials with questions about why the bodies of 21 men and 24 were not found before and how they died, while others survived. The largest electric utilities in Japan, TEPCO shares have fallen 80 percent since the beginning of the tragedy and its chief executive is in a hospital.
Several hundred Japanese protested on Sunday against the nuclear plant to the company's offices in Tokyo. Damage from the magnitude 9.0 earthquake and tsunami which followed minutes later on the northeast coast of Japan could reach 300 billion dollars, the costliest natural disaster in the world.
Kan Saturday toured the devastated coastal villages in northern Japan, giving refugees the Government's support to rebuild their homes and regain their lifestyle. Farmers in rural areas surrounding the nuclear plant fear that consumers will reject their crops in Japan, given its origin in the provinces of Fukushima.
"There is no way that we will be able to sell something," said the farmer of 73 years Akio Abiko. "People in Tokyo is too sensitive to this kind of thing," he said. Some disgruntled farmers traveled to Tokyo from Fukushima during the weekend and used Geiger counters to prove to people that their products are safe.
Though it has been over three weeks since the quake, about 164 thousand people still in evacuation centers. The heartbreaking stories of survivors are still emerging to tell the arrival of the tsunami. Tatako public servant Suzuki, 40, narrowly escaped when the water rose to within a few inches from the ceiling of an evacuation center where they had taken refuge.
"I thought it was over, but fortunately the water stopped and started backing up," he told Reuters. Suzuki spent the night immersed in the water along with 11 other survivors, bodies floating around them. Thousands of Japanese and U.S. soldiers have been searching for bodies, using dozens of boats and helicopters to comb areas still under water on the northeast coast.
The teams hope that when the huge tide drops it easier to find the bodies of the victims in a nation where appropriate funeral rites are central to the Buddhist culture.
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