The water was found in underground tunnels that run outside of the nuclear reactors, near three buildings that house massive steam turbines at the coastal nuclear complex. The discovery comes several days after water with similar levels of radioactivity began flooding the basements of the turbine buildings. It's not clear whether that water came from the tunnels.
Experts say that the latest developments at the plant are a product of the frantic efforts to cool the overheated reactors in the two weeks since the earthquake.
"They've just been adding more and more water. That water had to go somewhere — it's flooding all kinds of places where it shouldn't be," said David Lochbaum, director of the nuclear safety project for the Union of Concerned Scientists, in a press conference Monday. "It carries radioactivity with it. In addition to leakage, there is evaporation of water containing radioactive material."
