Two missing workers found dead in Japan nuclear plant

Two missing workers in the destroyed Fukushima nuclear power plant have been found dead at the site, Japan’s Kyodo news agency reported Sunday, citing the operator Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO).

The victims had been reported missing since an explosion March 11 at the plant after a magnitude-9 earthquake.

The disaster at the nuclear station occurred when the cooling system’s failed after the site was hit by a tsunami caused by the quake. TEPCO workers continued efforts Sunday to seal a leak of highly contaminated water into the ocean.

They were using chemical polymers to block the flow of radioactive water from a 20-centimetre crack in a pit where cables are stored near reactor number 2, local media reported.

The attempt to seal off the leak with cement had failed, prompting the company to call on more experts in Tokyo, the newspaper Yomiuri Shimbun reported.

Data from national science agencies showed that radioactive iodine registering at levels twice approved standards had been found in seawater 40 kilometres from the damaged Fukushima nuclear reactor.