Highly radioactive water leaks from Japan N-plant

TOKYO: The highly radioactive water leaked from a reactor nuclear complex in Japan paralyzed, the plant operator, said Monday, while the environmental group Greenpeace said it had detected high levels of radiation outside an exclusion zone.

Reflecting a growing unease about efforts to control the six reactors Fukushima Daiichi complex plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) has called on French companies for help, Kyodo news agency.

The plant, 240 km (150 miles) north of Tokyo, was damaged in a March 11 earthquake and tsunami that claimed more than 27,000 dead or missing in northern Japan.

Engineers Fires, explosions and radiation leaks have repeatedly forced to suspend efforts to stabilize the plant, including Sunday, when radiation levels rose to 100,000 times higher than normal water in the inside reactor No. 2.

Partial melting of fuel rods in the reactor vessel was responsible for high levels of radiation, although Secretary General Yukio Edano government said the radiation was contained mainly in the reactor building.

TEPCO said later radiation above 1000 mSv per hour has been found in groundwater in the concrete tunnels that extend beyond reactor.