Work on to remove radioactive water at Fukushima n-plants

Tokyo: Work to remove highly radioactive water from inside reactor buildings at the quake-damaged Fukushima nuclear park is in progress on Monday, with the radiation level of a pool in the basement of the No 2 reactor's turbine building measuring at more than 1,000 millisieverts per hour.

Meanwhile, plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) said early Monday radiation at the pool of collected water at the No 2 reactor was 100,000 times higher than usual for water in a reactor core, correcting its earlier statement that it was 10 million times higher.

The government now believes highly radioactive water detected at the No 2 reactor of the Fukushima nuclear complex was due to a partial meltdown of fuel rods there. But government spokesman and chief cabinet secretary, Yukio Edano, also said the government believes that the meltdown was only temporary.

The removal of such highly contaminated water in the four reactor units at the nuclear park is necessary to prevent workers from being exposed to radioactive substances. Workers are trying to restore crippled cooling functions at the four units, whose failure is the main cause of the crisis now afflicting the Fukushima complex.

The amount of radiation - the `dose' - received by people is measured in millisieverts (mSv).

Meanwhile, a strong earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.5 jolted Miyagi district and its vicinity in northeastern Japan on Monday morning. This is the same geographical area where the Fukushima n-park is located.