Radioactive water found outside nuclear plant in Japan

Radioactivity 100,000 times normalSTORY HIGHLIGHTS NEW: Japanese official says contaminated water overflow a threatPlutonium found in small quantities on plant groundsPower restored to No. 3 reactor Radioactive water, possible containment leak plague plant Tokyo (CNN) -- The Japanese company trying to contain the release of radiation from its Fukushima nuclear plant must pour enough water to cool its damaged reactors without creating an overflow of contaminated water from the plant, a government official said Tuesday.

Yukio Edano, Japan's chief Cabinet secretary and the government's point man for the nation's nuclear crisis, said the effort to prevent the reactors from overheating "must be given priority."

But Edano acknowledge the danger posed by continuing to pour water into them.

"If we need to increase water injection, this is what we need to do. If we stop water injection, fuel rod temperatures may increase and that may result in overheating," Edano said. "But fundamentally we need to drain the water as soon as possible."

Edano's remarks came a day after he told reporters that the containment structure surrounding one of the reactors at a quake-battered nuclear power plant is damaged and may be leaking radioactive material.

The plant's owner disclosed that small amounts of plutonium had been found among contaminants around the facility late Monday as Japanese authorities struggled to explain how radioactive water was leaking into maintenance tunnels and possibly, into the Pacific Ocean.

Edano told reporters Monday afternoon that "there may be a leak" from the containment vessel surrounding the No. 2 reactor. He said experts were still trying to determine the condition of the reactor's pressure vessel, which sits inside the containment vessel and immediately surrounds the radioactive fuel rods at the reactor's core.

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Highly radioactive water found in tunnel outside nuclear plant

NGOs critical of Japan's quake responseSTORY HIGHLIGHTSNEW: Water in a tunnel connected to a No. 2 unit building emits 1,000 millisieverts per hourNEW: That is 100,00 times normal levels for coolants inside a nuclear reactor NEW: Airborne radiation readings near that tunnel are also high, officials sayNEW: Officials are trying to determine whether the water overflowed and went into the Pacific Tokyo (CNN) -- Water found in a tunnel at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant has alarmingly high radiation readings, officials said Monday, adding that it is unclear how or why the tainted water got out of the building.

The water at the plant is emitting more than 1,000 millisieverts per hour of radioactivity -- a level the plant's owner had said is at least 100,000 times normal levels for coolants inside a nuclear reactor.

It was in a tunnel that contains electrical cables and is connected to the No. 2 reactor's turbine building, an official with the Tokyo Electric Power Co. said. The measurements were taken Monday afternoon.

Earlier, officials had announced that 1,000 millisieverts per hour of radiation was emanating from water pooling inside the No. 2 unit turbine building's basement.

The officials said they don't know how or why the contaminated water got out of the building and into the tunnel, or if it might have spilled out and seeped into the Pacific Ocean.

The measurement is more than 330 times the dose an average person in a developed country receives per year, and four times the top dose Japan's health ministry has set for emergency workers struggling to control the further emission of radioactive material from the damaged plant.

"Is the water overflowing or not?" Hidehiko Nishiyama, an official with Japan's nuclear and industrial safety agency, said Monday evening. "Right now, it is not known."

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