Radioactive water released into sea

Japanese engineers were forced to release radioactive water into the sea yesterday while resorting to desperate measures such as using bath salts to find the source of leaks at the nuclear plant hit by the tsunami.

Engineers also planned to build two giant "silt curtains" made of polyester fabric in the sea to hinder the spread of more contamination from the Fukushima Daiichi plant.

The plant operator released low-level radioactive sea water that had been used to cool overheated fuel rods after it ran out of storage capacity.