Radioactive 'pond' found at Fukushima

Japanese officials have found an Olympic swimming pool-sized pond of radioactive water in the basement of a unit at the Fukushima nuclear plant crippled by the March earthquake and tsunami.

The discovery has forced officials to abandon their original plan to bring the No 1 reactor under control. Now they will focus on how to deal with the rising pool that some experts see as a threat to groundwater and the Pacific coast.

Despite the setback, safety officials and the plant's operator, Tokyo Electric Power, hope to stabilise the plant by January.