Friday, March 25, 2011 18:54 JST (05:54 am Friday March 25 ET) According to NHK, NISA suspects that the Unit 3 reactor containment is leaking radioactive material. Unit 3 is different from the other reactors at Fuskushim Daiichi in that it uses MOX as fuel. NISA said 3 workers were exposed to high levels of radiation in the turbine building of Unit 3 (also reported by the IAEA). NISA said 3.9 million becquerels of radiation was detected in 1 cubic centimeter of water sampled from the floor of the building, about 10,000 times higher than expected in this part of the plant. NISA said the water sample indicated it is highly likely the leak comes from the reactor itself, not from the spent fuel pool.
NISA said pressure inside the reactor core is stable, but it says it is highly possible that radioactive materials are leaking from somewhere in the reactor. NISA also said high levels of radiation have been measured at reactors No. 1 and 2, and speculates there may also be leakage from them.
For some time it has been reported that it has not been possible to raise the water level in the reactors higher than half way up the fuel assembly.
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