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Japan finds plutonium at stricken nuclear plant

* Battle to control Fukushima plant seen far from over

* Japan crisis helps tip Germany poll against Merkel

* More than 27,000 dead or missing from quake and tsunami

* Magnitude 6.5 quake in north Japan triggers small tsunami

* Low-level radiation found in Massachusetts rainwater (Updates with Edano’s comments on melted fuel rods)

By Kiyoshi Takenaka and Yoko Kubota

TOKYO, March 28 (Reuters) – The high level of radiation in water flooding the basement of a reactor at Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant is likely due to a partial melting of fuel rods after the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, the government said on Monday.

“The radiation seems to have come from fuel rods that were partially melted down and came in contact with the water used to cool the reactor,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano told a news conference. “Steam may have condensed … carrying water from within the containment vessel.”

The partial meltdown would have happened after the tsunami crashed through the reactor and knocked out its cooling system.

His comments suggested there was no crack in the containment vessel in reactor No. 2, as some had feared, and he was not suggesting that there had been a fresh meltdown.

“The airborne radiation is mainly contained within the reactor building. We must make sure this water does not seep out into the soil or out to sea,” he said.

Engineers have been battling to control the six-reactor Fukushima complex since the earthquake, which left more than 27,000 people dead or missing across Japan’s northeast.

Fires, explosions, and radiation leaks have repeatedly forced them to suspend work on averting a catastrophic meltdown at the plant, which lies 240 km (150 miles) north of Tokyo.

With no clear progress at the facility for days now, the autorities appear to be resigned to a long fight to contain the world’s most dangerous atomic crisis in 25 years.

“I think maybe the situation is much more serious than we were led to believe,” said one expert, Najmedin Meshkati, of the University of Southern California, adding it may take weeks to stabilise the situation and the United Nations should step in.

“This is far beyond what one nation can handle – it needs to be bumped up to the U.N. Security Council. In my humble opinion, this is more important than the Libya no fly zone.”