The owner of one of Kahn's more eccentric ventures, a concrete boat designed as a music barge in the 1960s and still in operation, was stunned to be visited by the child he had met so long ago, and dissolved into a tearful embrace.

WSJ: Seeking the Father, Finding the Architect

The operation came a day after workers plugged a highly radioactive water leak from a concrete pit connected to the number two reactor, using sodium silicate - known as ''water glass''.

BBC: Japan quake: Nitrogen pumped into nuclear reactor