“Japan said on Tuesday it is on ‘maximum alert’ over a crippled nuclear plant where highly radioactive water has halted repair work and plutonium has been found in the soil.
The earthquake and tsunami that ravaged Japan’s northeast coast and left about 28,000 dead or missing also knocked out reactor cooling systems at the Fukushima plant, which has leaked radiation into the air and sea.
Prime Minister Naoto Kan conceded the situation at the coastal atomic power station remained ‘unpredictable’ and pledged his government would ‘tackle the problem while in a state of maximum alert’. “
