Japan's nuclear plant operator pays "condolence money"

[bananas]

Source: Reuters

The operator of Japan's crippled nuclear power plant started paying "condolence money" on Tuesday to victims of the worst nuclear crisis since Chernobyl while it kept pouring radioactive water into the sea.

In desperation, engineers at the Fukushima Daiichi plant have turned to what are little more than home remedies to stem the flow of contaminated water. On Tuesday, they used "liquid glass" in the hope of plugging cracks in a leaking concrete pit.

"We tried pouring sawdust, newspaper and concrete mixtures into the side of the pit (leading to tunnels outside reactor No.2), but the mixture does not seem to be entering the cracks," said Hidehiko Nishiyama, deputy director-general of Japan's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA).

"We also still do not know how the highly contaminated water is seeping out of Reactor No.2," said Nishiyama.

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Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/04/05/japan-idUSL3E7F42CD20110405

[wickerwoman]

1. Have they tried duct tape? Bubble gum?

I know I'm sleeping soundly with complete confidence in our ability to harness the nuclear juggernaut.

[Kolesar]

4. Rags and golf balls like at Deepwater Horizon last years

Remember the "junk shot"? "Top kill"?

[aquart]

2. Is no one paying scientists anything to work on this?

If we taxed the rich we could.

[kristopher]

3. The domestic fishing industry is going to take a big hit. K&R