Workers at Japan nuclear plant pump out toxic water

TOKYO, Apr 19 (AFP): Workers at a quake-hit nuclear plant in Japan on Tuesday began removing highly radioactive water from a reactor turbine building, a key step towards restoring cooling systems, the government said. The 9.0-magnitude earthquake and tsunami that hit the northeast coast of Japan on March 11 knocked out power systems at the Fukushima Daiichi plant, causing cooling systems to fail and triggering a series of explosions. To prevent a nuclear catastrophe, crews have pumped thousands of tonnes of seawater and later freshwater into the reactors and pools, creating a massive amount of radioactive runoff, some of which has leaked into the ocean. About 10,000 tonnes of highly radioactive water will be transferred from the turbine building of reactor no. 2 to a treatment facility inside the plant for processing, Japan's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA) said.