Japan Press Weekly

Tweet

2013 August 21 - 27 [NUCLEAR CRISIS]

300 tons of radioactive water leaked at Fukushima NPP

Tokyo Electric Power Co., Ltd. (TEPCO) on August 20 announced that an estimated 300 tons of water highly contaminated with radiation, which is the worst ever amount, had leaked from a storage tank at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant.

The plant operator said that the water had contained a total of 24 trillion Bq of such radioactive materials as Sr-90 and H3, and that most of it had leached into the surrounding soil.

TEPCO patrols only the perimeter of the hundreds of storage tanks of more than 10 meters in diameter twice a day, and does not check the tanks placed inside the outer edge.

Flashboards are installed on the periphery in case of leakages. The utility, however, left their valves opened to drain rainwater. That is why the radioactive water leaked out.

If TEPCO had properly dealt with the flashboards, it could have prevented the 300t-water from seeping into the ground.

The water has not flowed into the sea, TEPCO officials explained, but everyone knows that once water leaches into the ground, the water will eventually flow into the sea along with the groundwater.

Nevertheless, TEPCO is insisting on little possibility of the water running into the sea, showing its irresponsibility.