Government officials in Japan say it could take months for radiation leaks to be brought under control at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.
# N; K$ _, F" O+ B The Fukushima Daiichi plant continues to spew radioactive water into the Pacific Ocean and government officials are saying the crisis at the stricken plant could last for months to come.
+ K8 G0 J3 e* o* L3 v# ~ On Sunday workers were preparing to attempt to seal a hole in a maintenance pit that is thought to be allowing radioactive water from inside the plant to escape to the sea.
- Y7 ^( M l" d1 D! v The hole, discovered a day earlier, is around 20 centimeters in length and the Tokyo Electric Power company says it will try and seal it with a mixture of sawdust, shredded newspaper and a plastic that is supposed to expand as it sets.
+ w: ]) D; } u, Y' H R News that the crisis might go on for months was delivered by Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said at a news conference.* y: H) ]" w+ z' b) Y
Edano says he believes several months is a reasonable amount of time to expect a solution. He said the government is also exploring options to shorten this period.: U6 ?* E4 n" G Q( d2 {
Also on Sunday, Tokyo Electric Power said it had found the bodies of two plant workers missing since the massive tsunami hit the plant on March 11.
+ |, v) t0 [) A! F6 @2 s2 l+ l The two were found in the basement of a reactor turbine building at the plant. They had died of multiple injuries. |