TEPCO Confirms 25-Tonne Radioactive Water Leak in Japan's Fukushima-1 2nd Reactor - IAEA
MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) told the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that it had discovered a radioactive water leak of about 25 tonnes in the second reactor building of the Fukushima-1 nuclear power plant (NPP) in northeastern Japan, the agency said.
"The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) was informed that on 9 August 2024, TEPCO found a water leakage at Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station Unit 2, involving an estimated 25 tons of water from the spent fuel cooling system pump room and the heat exchanger room. The leaked water flowed into drain on the floor connected to the water collection pit (floor sump) located in a room of the first basement floor," the agency said in a statement published on Thursday.
TEPCO also informed the agency that it had not detected any signs of leakage in other rooms so far, according to the statement. TEPCO halted the spent fuel primary cooling pump to examine the cause and confirmed that the pool temperature was within the normal range, not exceeding 46 degrees (114.8 degrees Fahrenheit), the statement said.
"This is below the 65 degrees Celsius limitation of operation. The level of accumulated water in the room had stopped rising, and therefore determined that the water leakage had stopped," the statement read.
The leaked water, which remained inside the building, will be treated by Japanese power company the using its water treatment facilities, according to the statement.
In March 2011, the Fukushima nuclear power plant had three of its reactors melt down after the nation was shaken by a magnitude 9 earthquake followed by a massive tsunami. Fukushima is considered the worst nuclear disaster since the Chernobyl accident in 1986.
