By Roland Buerk BBC News , Tokyo   Officials are not yet sure if the readings pose a problem Continue reading the main story A radioactive gas has been detected at Japan's crippled Fukushima nuclear plant, the facility's operator says. Tepco said xenon had been found in reactor two, which was previously thought to be near a stable shutdown. There has been no increase in temperature or pressure, but the discovery may indicate a problem with the reactor. Boric acid - used to suppress nuclear reactions - has been injected as a precaution. Ever since the meltdowns in March triggered by the huge earthquake and tsunami, engineers have been working to bring the Fukushima reactors under control. The government and Tepco - the Tokyo Electric Power Company - have said they are on track to achieve a stable shutdown by the end of the year. But now they have found what could be a problem - radioactive xe...

There has been growing discontent in Japan about the government's handling of the quake and tsunami Continue reading the main story Japan quake Japan's energy crisis Q&A: Health effects of radiation Life on edge of exclusion zone Moment tsunami hit Fukushima Japan's new Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda has unveiled his cabinet, which will be charged with rebuilding the country and boosting growth. Japan has been trying to rebuild after the damage caused by the earthquake and tsunami earlier this year. At the same time, Japan's economy is in recession. Jun Azumi has been appointed finance minister, while Motohisa Furukawa has been given charge of the economics portfolio. Yoshio Hachiro has been named as the new trade minister by Mr Noda. Unknown quantity? Mr Noda took over Japan's top jo...

Photo: Courtesy TEPCO A tsunami wave approaches the Fukushima nuclear plant on March 11, 2011 Japanese nuclear regulators say they were told four days before the March 11 earthquake that the Fukushima nuclear plant could be hit by a far-larger tsunami than it was designed to withstand. The regulators told reporters Wednesday that the plant's operators, Tokyo Electric Power Company, determined in 2008 that the plant could be hit by a tsunami more than 10 meters high. But the findings, based on a computer simulation of a major undersea earthquake, were not passed along until March 7 of this year. The Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency says it responded to the report by asking for urgent countermeasures at the plant, which was designed to withstand a tsunami of only 5.7 meters. The tsunami that hit the plant four days later is estimated to have been as high as 15 meters. The 10-meter estimate prepared in 2008 was based on an assumption of an 8....

The concrete pit near Reactor No 2 was cracked by the quake Continue reading the main story Japan quake Hard wait for plant town evacuees Tepco shares hit record low Reactor leaks: Aerial view Aid worker's diary A leak of highly radioactive water into the Pacific Ocean from Japan's crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant has been stopped, its operator reports. Tepco said it had injected chemical agents to solidify soil near a cracked pit that was the source of the leak. Engineers have been struggling to stop leaks since the plant was damaged by the earthquake and tsunami on 11 March. They are currently discharging less contaminated water into the sea so more radioactive water can be stored. Since the earthquake knocked out cooling systems, workers have been pumping water into reactors to cool fuel rods, but must now deal with waste water pooling in and below damaged reactor ...

Tokyo (CNN) -- Radioactive iodine in seawater around the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant dropped sharply even before workers plugged a water leak believed to be from its crippled No. 2 reactor, the plant's owner said Wednesday night. Stopping the flow of highly radioactive water into the Pacific Ocean was a key victory for workers who have struggled to keep the earthquake-damaged plant's reactors from overheating for nearly four weeks. But the Tokyo Electric Power Co. and a top Japanese official warned the fight was far from over. Concentrations of iodine-131 had been as high as 7.5 million times legal standards in water directly behind the plant after the leak was discovered Saturday. They had dropped to less than 4 percent of that amount in the 24 hours before the leak had been cut off Wednesday morning, according to figures released by Tokyo Electric. The level remained 280,000 times higher than the legal limit, but those concentrations were dropping sharply as t...

Tome, Japan (CNN) -- Children run across a playing field in a game of dodgeball, oblivious to the snow that fills the air along with their screams of laughter. The unadulterated joy is heartening, considering the children and the location. The playing field is a school converted into a shelter in Minamisanriku, one of the worst places hit by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami which cost all the children here their homes, their possessions and -- in many cases -- family members. Thousands of people are still unaccounted for. World Vision has created a "child-friendly space," a program that the organization has replicated around the world, for children to help each other. High school students volunteer to help pick teams for cops and robbers and teach children soccer skills. The effort goes a long way. Misato Oyama, 11, lost her grandfather in the tsunami. "I am scared that another big tsunami will come and destroy another part of my city," she said. Famili...

The concrete pit near Reactor No 2 was cracked by the quake Continue reading the main story Japan quake Viewpoint: Who is in charge? Reactor leaks: Aerial view Aid worker's diary Inside the evacuation zone A leak of highly radioactive water into the Pacific Ocean from Japan's crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant has been stopped, its operator reports. Tepco said it had injected chemical agents to solidify soil near a cracked pit, from where the contaminated water had been seeping out. Engineers have been struggling to stop leaks since the plant was damaged by the earthquake and tsunami on 11 March. Japan has asked Russia for the use of a floating radiation treatment plant. In another development, government sources said that a plan to cover the damaged reactor buildings with special metal sheets could not be carried out until September at the earliest due to high-level...

TOKYO (AP) -- For the first time, Japan is setting a standard for the amount of radiation allowed in fish. The decision comes after radiation more than 7.5 million times the legal limit for seawater was found just off a tsunami-damaged nuclear plant. Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano says the government will apply the maximum allowable radiation limit for vegetables to fish. The move came after the health ministry reported that fish caught off Ibaraki prefecture - which is about halfway between the plant and Tokyo - contained levels of radioactive iodine that exceeded the new legal limit. Cesium was also found just below the limit. The fish were caught Friday, before the safety limit was announced Tuesday. THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below. TOKYO (AP) - Radiation in seawater at the shoreline off Japan's tsunami-ravaged nuclear power plant has measured several million times the legal limit over the pa...

Tokyo (CNN) -- Japanese utility and government authorities suffered fresh setbacks Tuesday with the detection of radiation in a fish and news that water gushing from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant into the Pacific had radiation levels more than millions of times above the regulatory limit. Readings from samples taken Saturday in the concrete pit outside the turbine building of the plant's No. 2 reactor -- one of six at the crisis-plagued plant -- had radiation 7.5 million times the legal limits, said an official with the Tokyo Electric Power Company, which runs the plant. More recent findings showed a slight drop to 5 million times the norm. Still, the utility company also noted Tuesday that the radiation levels diminished sharply as one moved away from the leak, consistent with their assessment that the spill might have a minimal effect on sealife. The entire issued underlined that getting a grip on how to minimize the amount of radiation in the Pacific Ocean is the new...

Officials say the discharge means highly radioactive water leaking from reactor No 2 can be stored Continue reading the main story Japan quake Viewpoint: Who is in charge? Reactor leaks: Aerial view Aid worker's diary Inside the evacuation zone Workers at Japan's quake-hit nuclear plant have begun dumping water with low levels of contamination into the sea to free up room to store more highly radioactive water leaking at the site. About 11,500 tonnes of water will be released into the sea at the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant. Water with a higher level of radioactivity leaking from the No 2 reactor can then be stored. Efforts to tackle that leak are continuing. The source of the leak was identified at the weekend as a 20cm (8in) crack in a concrete pit at reactor 2. Workers are now using dye to try to trace the route of the water, after earlier efforts to plug the h...

Tokyo (CNN) -- About 11,500 tons of radioactive water that has collected at the crippled Fukishima Daiichi nuclear facility will be dumped into the Pacific Ocean, officials said Monday, as workers prioritize dealing with a crack that has been a conduit for contamination. These are the latest, but hardly the only challenges facing workers at the embattled power plant and its six reactors, which have been in constant crisis since last month's ruinous earthquake and tsunami. Officials with the Tokyo Electric Power Company, which runs the plant, proposed Monday afternoon releasing excess water that has pooled in and around the Nos. 3, 4, 5 and 6 reactors into the sea. But most of the dumped water -- 10,000 tons -- will come from the plant's central waste treatment facility, which will then be used to store highly radioactive water from the No. 2 unit, an official with the power company said. Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano called the dumping "unavoidable,...

Many manufacturers continue to face power cuts and supply chain shortages Continue reading the main story Japan quake In pictures: Search for the dead Reactor leaks: Aerial view Aid worker's diary Inside the evacuation zone Japan's big manufacturers expect conditions to worsen in the coming three months, according to the Bank of Japan's Tankan survey. But the decline in business sentiment was not as bad as many expected, leading to questions of accuracy. The earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan on 11 March have lead to rolling power blackouts and a nuclear crisis. The results of the quarterly Tankan survey are used to shape Japan's monetary policy. The business sentiment index for this June is at minus 2, showing that big manufacturers are pessimistic. A positive reading indicates the sector is improving. Accurate results? In an unprecedented move, the Bank of...

Tokyo (CNN) -- The bodies of two Japanese nuclear power plant workers missing since the epic March 11 earthquake and tsunami have been found, an official with the plant's owner said Sunday. The men's remains were found in the basement of the turbine building at the No. 4 reactor at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, an official with the Tokyo Electric Power Company told reporters Sunday. The pair -- identified as Kazahiko Kokubo, 24, and Yoshiki Terashima, 21, both members of the utility company's operations management department -- were working in that building when the 9.0-magnitude quake and subsequent tsunami struck. The disaster caused damage throughout northeastern Japan, including at the power plant, which is on the Asian nation's eastern coast about 240 kilometers (150 miles) north of Tokyo. One of the workers was found floating in a pool of water in the basement, the utilty company official said. Both appeared to have suffered multiple traumatic injur...

Oshima, Japan (CNN) -- Susumu Sugawara looks bemused and a little embarrassed at all the attention he's getting. The 64 year old has become a local hero on the Japanese island of Oshima. Smashed boats adorn the coastline of this once-idyllic tourist spot, but Sugawara's pride and joy, "Sunflower" is intact and working overtime transporting people and aid to and from the island. It can hold around 20 people at a time. When the tsunami came, everyone ran to the hills. But Sugawara ran to his boat and steered it into deeper waters. "I knew if I didn't save my boat, my island would be isolated and in trouble," he tells CNN. As he passed his other boats, used for fishing abalone, he said goodbye to them, apologizing that he could not save them all. Then the first wave came. Sugawara says he is used to seeing waves up to 5 meters high but this was four-times that size. "My feeling at this moment is indescribable," he says with glistening ...

Click to play Japan's PM Naoto Kan made his first ground visit to the disaster zone - courtesy TV Tokyo Continue reading the main story Japan quake In pictures: Search for the dead Reactor leaks: Aerial view Aid worker's diary Inside the evacuation zone Radioactive water is leaking into the sea from a 20-centimetre (8-inch) crack in a containment pit at Japan's quake-hit Fukushima nuclear plant, its operator Tepco has said. The crack under reactor 2 may be the source of recent radiation in coastal waters, Tepco officials said. Tepco is preparing to pour concrete into the pit to try...

RIKUZENTAKATA, Japan (AP) -- Japan's prime minister surveyed the damage in a town gutted by a massive tsunami, as officials said Saturday that highly radioactive water was leaking into the sea from the nuclear plant stricken by the disaster. The Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear complex has been spewing radioactivity since March 11, when a magnitude-9.0 earthquake and ensuing wave knocked out power, disabling cooling systems and allowing radiation to seep out of the overheating reactors. Prime Minister Naoto Kan went to the plant and flew over the tsunami-damaged coast soon after the wave hit, but Saturday was the first time he set foot in one of the pulverized towns. Dressed in the blue work clothes that have become almost a uniform for officials, Kan stopped in Rikuzentakata, where the town hall is one of the few buildings still standing. All its windows are blown out and a tangle of metal and other debris is piled in front of it. The prime minister bowed his head for a minute o...

Images of mass graves to hold Japan's unidentified victims shocked a nation used to ceremonial cremations. In Tokyo, CNN's Kyung Lah reports on residents young and old paying their respects to strangers killed in Japan's tsunami zone.

Thousands of Japanese and American military personnel joined together Friday in a final three-day sweep to search for those still missing from last month's massive earthquake and tsunami. The operation involves 120 aircraft and 65 ships and will cover the three prefectures hit hardest by the March 11 disaster. More than 11,000 people are confirmed dead, with more than 16,500 still missing. But the search teams will stay out of a 30-kilometer zone around the radiation-leaking Fukushima nuclear plant. Workers have been struggling since the quake to bring the damaged plant under control. Chief government spokesman Yukio Edano said Friday that current circumstances meant that it would be a “reasonably long” period of time before those evacuated from the nuclear-threat zone would be allowed back to their homes. Edano also confirmed reports that the groundwater around the plant was contaminated with radiation many times higher than normal, and that testing on cattle had turned up a...

Click to play Japan's nuclear zone evacuees face an uncertain future Continue reading the main story Japan quake In pictures: Search for the dead Reactor leaks: Aerial view Aid worker's diary Inside the evacuation zone The evacuation of residents near Japan's quake-hit Fukushima nuclear plant will be long-term, officials say. Many of the tens of thousands of people evacuated from the area around the plant are living in temporary shelters. The announcement came as high levels of radiation were detected for the first time in groundwater near one of the facility's six reactors. M...

Tokyo (CNN) -- The levels of radiation in ocean waters off Japan's embattled Fukushima Daiichi plant continue to skyrocket, the nation's nuclear safety agency said Thursday, with no clear sense of what's causing the spike or how to stop it. The amount of radioactive iodine-131 isotope in the samples, taken Wednesday some 330 meters (361 yards) into the Pacific Ocean, has surged to 4,385 times above the regulatory limit. This tops the previous day's reading of 3,355 times above the standard -- and an exponential spike over the 104-times increase measured just last Friday. Officials have downplayed the potential perils posed by this isotope, since it loses half of its radiation every eight days. Yet amounts of the cesium-137 isotope -- which, by comparison, has a 30-year "half life" -- have also soared, with a Wednesday afternoon sample showing levels 527 times the standard. "That's the one I am worried about," said Michael Friedlander, a U...