22 May 2011

Structure to hold radioactive water berths at nuclear plant

4:18 am on 22 May 2011

A huge floating structure to hold radioactive water has been berthed at the quay of Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Japan.

The plant's operator, Tokyo Electric Power, said the structure would be used to contain part of nearly 90,000 tonnes of contaminated water which has been stored at the facility.

A magnitude 9.0 earthquake and tsunami knocked out cooling systems at the Fukushima plant on the Pacific coast on 11 March.

In a stop-gap measure to contain the emergency at the plant, workers have been pouring massive amounts of water onto reactors where fuel rods are reported to have melted, and topped up pools for spent fuel rods.