TOKYO: Plutonium found in soil at the crippled Fukushima nuclear complex heightened alarm Tuesday over Japan's protracted battle to contain the world's worst atomic crisis in 25 years. Plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) said the radioactive material, a by-product of atomic reactions and also used in nuclear bombs, was traced in soil at five locations at the complex, hit by an earthquake and tsunami on March 11. The drama at the six-reactor facility has compounded the Asian nation's agony after the natural disasters left more than 28,000 people dead or missing in the devastated northeast. “I apologize for making people worried,” Sakae Muto, vice president of under-pressure TEPCO, said at a briefing around midnight in Tokyo. Yet he stressed the traces of plutonium 238, 239 and 240 were not dangerous and work would not be stopped. “It's not at the level that's harmful to human health.” Muto said the readings were similar to those found in the past in other parts of Japan due to particles carried in the atmosphere after nuclear testing abroad. TEPCO said it was unclear where the plutonium was from, though it appeared two of the five finds were related to damage from the plant rather than from the atmosphere. Experts believe that as well as from the air, plutonium may have come from spent fuel rods at Fukushima or damage to reactor No. 3, the only one to use plutonium in its fuel mix. UN watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said the find was expected due to known fuel degradation. The UN body has called a summit, possibly in June, to coordinate the international response to mounting concern over nuclear safety in the wake of Japan's crisis. Japan's own nuclear safety agency was concerned at the plutonium samples which ranged from 0.18-0.54 becquerels per kg. The plutonium discovery, from samples taken a week ago, was the latest bad news from the Fukushima plant where engineers are resigned to a protracted struggle of weeks or possibly months to reestablish cooling systems vital to control the reactors. On Monday, TEPCO said highly reactive water showing 1,000 millisieverts per hour had been found in concrete tunnels that extend beyond one reactor. With Japan's towns and villages in the northeast coast reduced to apocalyptic landscapes of mud and debris, more than a quarter of a million people are homeless. The cost of damage could top $300 billion, the world's costliest natural disaster. Environmental group Greenpeace said its experts had confirmed dangerous radiation of up to 10 microsieverts per hour in Iitate village, 40km northwest of the plant. It called for the extension of a 20-km evacuation zone.
