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2013 April 3 - 9 TOP3 [NUCLEAR CRISIS]

Radioactive water escapes from Fukushima plant

The recent leak of radiation-contaminated water at the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant has again shown that the government’s declaration in late 2011 that the nuclear accident has been brought under control is out of touch with reality.

Tokyo Electric Power Co. on April 6 announced that 120 tons of highly radioactive water has found to have escaped from a second underground storage pool, the largest in size of seven underground storage pools at the plant. The water is believed to have contained 710 billion Bq of radioactivity, more than 3 times higher than the 220 billion Bq limit on the annual amount of liquid radioactive waste.

The plant operator on the next day said that the No.3 pool was also found to have leaked highly radioactive water.

Everyday, 400 tons of groundwater enters the Fukushima plant. Currently, about 280,000 tons of water is stored at tanks built in the plant after radioactive cesium is removed.

TEPCO plans to operate the advanced liquid processing system (ALPS) to take out 62 radioactive materials, including strontium, from the toxic water stored in the tanks.

Although underground storage pools were initially planned to store water after being processed by the ALPS, the electric company decided to use them to place unprocessed water due to delays in the cleanup plan as well as delays in the construction of additional tanks.

Possible risks associated with the storage of highly radioactive water in the underground pits have been pointed out, including deterioration of plastic sheets lining the containers by radiation and escape of leaked water into the ocean.

The nuclear regulation agency, however, allowed TEPCO’s change from the initial plan.

Using a temporary switchboard for operations of important equipment for two years at the Fukushima plant, the electric company has continuously taken makeshift measures to deal with a series of problems. Last month, a rat caused a power outage in the plant’s cooling system.

The news leakage brings into question the reliability of underground storage pools. TEPCO is expected to review its water storage plans.

Related past articles:
> Rat is cause of blackout at Fukushima nuclear power plant (March 22, 2013)
> TEPCO tries to release radioactive water into ocean (March 17, 2013)