Where concrete walls have failed, officials at Fukushima’s Daiichi nuclear power plant have begun using a powerful polymer to keep radioactive water from spilling into the ocean. The experiment has yet to prove successful, however, and the idea may be abandoned. “Goshi Hosono, an aide to the prime minister, Naoto Kan, said everything possible was being done to contain leaks, which have contaminated the environment and food and water supplies, necessitated mass evacuations, and fomented fear as far away as Tokyo, 150 miles to the south.”