Japan to continue pumping radioactive water into sea

PanARMENIAN.Net - Japan will pump radioactive water into the sea from a crippled nuclear plant until Sunday, April 10, a day later than previously planned, its nuclear safety agency said.

The announcement came a day after China expressed concern at the discharge of contaminated water from the Fukushima Daiichi plant smashed by last month's earthquake, reflecting growing international unease over the month-long nuclear crisis.

"We are working on releasing water ... we are likely to finish this tomorrow," Hidehiko Nishiyama, a deputy director- general at Japan's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA), told reporters on Saturday, Reuters reports.

Plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) said earlier it expected to stop pumping tainted water into the sea on Saturday, but work was interrupted by a powerful aftershock on Thursday.

TEPCO is struggling to contain the worst atomic crisis since Chernobyl. Engineers say they are far from in control of the damaged reactors and it could take months to stabilize them and years to clear up the toxic mess left behind.

Nuclear reactor maker Toshiba Corp has proposed a 10-year plan to decommission four of the six damaged reactors at the plant, 240 km (150 miles) north of Tokyo, said Kyodo news agency.

But the government has said it was too early to have a "specific road map" for ending the crisis.

The magnitude 9 earthquake and tsunami on March 11 left 28,000 people dead or missing, and northeastern Japan a splintered wreck.