ID :
172617
Sat, 04/02/2011 - 19:06
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https://oananews.org//node/172617
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Tainted water confirmed to have seeped into sea from nuke plant
TOKYO, April 2 Kyodo - Water with high levels of radiation has been confirmed to have seeped into the sea from the No. 2 reactor at the troubled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, government officials said Saturday, raising wider fears of environmental contamination by the release of radioactivity.
The water has been leaking into the sea from a 20-centimeter crack detected at a pit in the reactor where power cables are stored, the government's nuclear safety agency said.
Tokyo Electric Power Co. took steps to encase the fracture in concrete as an emergency measure but the utility said later that the amount of leakage was unchanged even after the measure was taken. It will try other measures on Sunday to fill the crack in the 2-meter deep pit measuring 1.2 meters by 1.9 meters.
The utility, known as TEPCO, said the pit is connected to the No. 2 reactor's turbine building and a tunnel-like underground trench, in which highly radioactive water has been spotted so far.
The first detection of tainted water flowing out into the Pacific Ocean could force the government and the operator to limit further expansion of radioactive contamination, likely hampering efforts to restore the crippled cooling functions at the complex.
Hidehiko Nishiyama, a spokesman for the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency, said the government believes the water found in the No. 2 reactor's turbine building and in its pit is ''almost the same.''
The agency has instructed the operator to check whether there are cracks at other reactors and to strengthen the monitoring of water in the sea off the plant, he added.
The radiation level in the pit at the No. 2 reactor was more than 1,000 millisieverts per hour, according to the agency, while TEPCO noted that radioactive iodine-131 more than 10,000 times higher than the legal concentration limit was detected in the water found in the pit.
A pool of water with high levels of radiation was also found inside the No. 4 reactor building, the agency said, adding the level was about 100 millisieverts per hour.
Levels of radioactive materials have been skyrocketing in the sea near the nuclear power plant hit by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, fanning concerns about the expansion of sea contamination and the impact on fishery products.
The latest development prompted the government to enhance its inspection on fishery products. ''We have to reinforce inspections (on fishery products). We will devote all our energy for securing safety of supplies,'' farm minister Michihiko Kano told reporters in Miyagi Prefecture on Saturday.
The government and the plant operator, meanwhile, continued trying Saturday to remove radioactive water from inside the buildings at the plant, located around 220 kilometers northeast of Tokyo.
Removal of contaminated water is also necessary to reduce the risk to workers being exposed to radioactive substances as it hinders efforts to restore the cooling functions, which are crucial to overcome the crisis.
The plant operator is struggling to secure enough space in tanks to store radiation-contaminated water that has been soaking the basements of the reactor buildings and filling up tunnel-like underground trenches connected to them.
TEPCO is considering using a large artificial floating island, a so-called ''megafloat,'' to store the tainted water, the agency said.
The utility expects the artificial floating island, which will be provided by the city of Shizuoka, can store about 10,000 tons of water, company officials said, while the amount of water detected in the plant has reached around 13,000 tons.
On Saturday, TEPCO also resumed transferring fresh water from U.S. Navy barges to tanks at the plant, which will be injected into the reactors to cool them down.
The company has been pouring massive amounts of water into the reactors and the spent nuclear fuel pools at the plant as a stopgap measure to cool them down, because serious damage to the fuel rods from overheating could lead to the release of enormous amounts of radioactive materials into the environment.
However, the measure is believed to be linked to the possible leak of contaminated water from the reactors, where fuel rods have partially melted.
In an effort to prevent radioactive particles from being dispersed from the plant by wind and rain, TEPCO on Friday started test-spraying water-soluble resin that has a coating effect at the plant. It will decide whether to continue the operation after studying the effect of the spraying, the agency said.
In other developments related to the crisis, Prime Minister Naoto Kan visited an operation base in Fukushima Prefecture on Saturday to give encouragement to Self-Defense Forces members and other workers who are trying to contain the crisis at the nuclear power station.
A 15-member advance party of a U.S. military radiation control team arrived at Yokota Air Base in western Tokyo. The full 155-person Initial Response Force, comprising Marines trained in chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear and high-yield explosion operations is scheduled to be deployed to Yokota from Indian Head, Maryland.
The water has been leaking into the sea from a 20-centimeter crack detected at a pit in the reactor where power cables are stored, the government's nuclear safety agency said.
Tokyo Electric Power Co. took steps to encase the fracture in concrete as an emergency measure but the utility said later that the amount of leakage was unchanged even after the measure was taken. It will try other measures on Sunday to fill the crack in the 2-meter deep pit measuring 1.2 meters by 1.9 meters.
The utility, known as TEPCO, said the pit is connected to the No. 2 reactor's turbine building and a tunnel-like underground trench, in which highly radioactive water has been spotted so far.
The first detection of tainted water flowing out into the Pacific Ocean could force the government and the operator to limit further expansion of radioactive contamination, likely hampering efforts to restore the crippled cooling functions at the complex.
Hidehiko Nishiyama, a spokesman for the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency, said the government believes the water found in the No. 2 reactor's turbine building and in its pit is ''almost the same.''
The agency has instructed the operator to check whether there are cracks at other reactors and to strengthen the monitoring of water in the sea off the plant, he added.
The radiation level in the pit at the No. 2 reactor was more than 1,000 millisieverts per hour, according to the agency, while TEPCO noted that radioactive iodine-131 more than 10,000 times higher than the legal concentration limit was detected in the water found in the pit.
A pool of water with high levels of radiation was also found inside the No. 4 reactor building, the agency said, adding the level was about 100 millisieverts per hour.
Levels of radioactive materials have been skyrocketing in the sea near the nuclear power plant hit by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, fanning concerns about the expansion of sea contamination and the impact on fishery products.
The latest development prompted the government to enhance its inspection on fishery products. ''We have to reinforce inspections (on fishery products). We will devote all our energy for securing safety of supplies,'' farm minister Michihiko Kano told reporters in Miyagi Prefecture on Saturday.
The government and the plant operator, meanwhile, continued trying Saturday to remove radioactive water from inside the buildings at the plant, located around 220 kilometers northeast of Tokyo.
Removal of contaminated water is also necessary to reduce the risk to workers being exposed to radioactive substances as it hinders efforts to restore the cooling functions, which are crucial to overcome the crisis.
The plant operator is struggling to secure enough space in tanks to store radiation-contaminated water that has been soaking the basements of the reactor buildings and filling up tunnel-like underground trenches connected to them.
TEPCO is considering using a large artificial floating island, a so-called ''megafloat,'' to store the tainted water, the agency said.
The utility expects the artificial floating island, which will be provided by the city of Shizuoka, can store about 10,000 tons of water, company officials said, while the amount of water detected in the plant has reached around 13,000 tons.
On Saturday, TEPCO also resumed transferring fresh water from U.S. Navy barges to tanks at the plant, which will be injected into the reactors to cool them down.
The company has been pouring massive amounts of water into the reactors and the spent nuclear fuel pools at the plant as a stopgap measure to cool them down, because serious damage to the fuel rods from overheating could lead to the release of enormous amounts of radioactive materials into the environment.
However, the measure is believed to be linked to the possible leak of contaminated water from the reactors, where fuel rods have partially melted.
In an effort to prevent radioactive particles from being dispersed from the plant by wind and rain, TEPCO on Friday started test-spraying water-soluble resin that has a coating effect at the plant. It will decide whether to continue the operation after studying the effect of the spraying, the agency said.
In other developments related to the crisis, Prime Minister Naoto Kan visited an operation base in Fukushima Prefecture on Saturday to give encouragement to Self-Defense Forces members and other workers who are trying to contain the crisis at the nuclear power station.
A 15-member advance party of a U.S. military radiation control team arrived at Yokota Air Base in western Tokyo. The full 155-person Initial Response Force, comprising Marines trained in chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear and high-yield explosion operations is scheduled to be deployed to Yokota from Indian Head, Maryland.
