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Desperate Japan dumps radioactive water in sea JAPANESE engineers were forced yesterday to release radioactive water into the sea while resorting to desperate measures such as using bath salts to try to find the source of leaks at a crippled nuclear power complex hit by a tsunami on March 11. Engineers also planned to build two giant "silt curtains" made of polyester in the sea to hinder the spread of more contamination from the crippled Fukushima Dai-ichi plant, 240km north of Tokyo. The plant operator released low-level radioactive seawater that had been used to cool overheated fuel rods after it ran out of storage capacity for more highly contaminated water, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said. "We have instructed strict monitoring of the ocean to firmly grasp the impact on the environment," said Edano. Operator Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO) said it would release more than 10,000 tons of contaminated water that was about 100 times more radioactive than legal limits in order to free up storage capacity for more highly contaminated water. "We are very sorry for this region and those involved," a tearful TEPCO official told a news conference. Engineers are still struggling to regain control of damaged reactors at the plant in the worst nuclear crisis since Chernobyl in 1986, with the government urging TEPCO to act faster. But it could take months to stem the leaks, warned one official, and even longer to regain control of the plant. In their desperation to stop radioactive leaks, TEPCO engineers have used anything at hand. At the weekend, they mixed sawdust and newspapers with polymers and cement in an unsuccessful attempt to seal a crack in a concrete pit at reactor No. 2. Yesterday, they resorted to bath salts to produce a milky color in water to help trace the source of the leak. TEPCO said it was also planning to drape a curtain in the sea to try to prevent radioactive silt drifting out into the ocean. The curtain will take several days to prepare, said Hidehiko Nishiyama, deputy director-general of the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA). The exact source of the radiation leaks remains a mystery. TEPCO said it would build tanks to hold contaminated seawater, with a capacity of six Olympic swimming pools. A floating tank is also due to arrive next week. Radioactive iodine 4,800 times the legal limit was recorded in the sea off the plant last week, said Japan's Nuclear and Industry Safety Authority.