TOKYO: Japan's prime minister made his first visit to the country's tsunami-devastated region Saturday as officials grappling to end the worst nuclear crisis since Chernobyl said they may have discovered why radiation has been leaking into the sea. Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) said it had found a crack in a concrete pit that was leaking water at its No.2 reactor in Fukushima, measuring 1,000 millisieverts of radiation per hour. “With radiation levels rising in the seawater near the plant, we have been trying to confirm the reason why, and in that context, this could be one source,” said Hidehiko Nishiyama, deputy head of the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA). He cautioned, however: “We can't really say for certain until we've studied the results.” TEPCO has begun pouring concrete into the pit to stop the leak, he said. Prime Minister Naoto Kan spoke with refugees living in a makeshift camp in the fishing village of Rikuzentakata, levelled by the tsunami which struck on March 11 when Japan was rocked by a massive earthquake, leaving 28,000 dead and missing. “It will be kind of a long battle, but the government will be working hard together with you until the end. I want everyone to do their best, too,” Kyodo news agency quoted Kan as telling one survivor in a school that is now an evacuation shelter by Japan's shattered northeast coast. But some survivors were angry Kan took three weeks to visit, accusing the government of doing little to help them rebuild their lives amongst the twisted rubble. “The timing of his visit is too late,” said Ryoko Otsubo. “I wish he had visited this place earlier. I wanted him to see the piles of debris where there were no roads. Now the roads are cleaned.” Despite its tsunami seawalls, Rikuzentaka was flattened into a wasteland of mud and debris and most of its 23,000 residents killed or injured, many swept away by the waves. “A person that used to have a house near the coast told me ‘Where am I supposed to build a house after this?', so I encouraged this person and said the government will provide support until the end,” Kan told reporters. After three weeks, operators of the plant are no closer to regaining control of damaged reactors, as fuel rods remain overheated and high levels of radiation flow into the sea. Japan is facing a damages bill which may top $300 billion — the world's biggest from a natural disaster. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said Friday the Japanese economy would take a short-term hit and it could not rule out further intervention for the yen. The IMF is set to cut its 2011 forecast for Japanese growth when it unveils updated figures on April 11 in its World Economic Outlook, said IMF Japan mission chief Mahmood Pradhan. Japan's central bank is expected to revise down its economic assessment when it meets on April 6-7 in the wake of the crisis. The consequences for the world's third largest economy have already seen manufacturing slump to a two-year low. Power outages and quake damage have hit supply chains and production.
