Pumps
at Fukushima plant halted, toxic water leaking into ocean - TEPCO
RT,
21
April, 2015
All
the eight water transfer pumps at the Fukushima 1 nuclear power
station have been shut down due to a power outage, leading to a leak
of radioactive water into the Pacific Ocean, the plant’s operator
said.
Tokyo
Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) reported a power outage on Tuesday,
according to Kyodo news agency. It follows the line of the toxic
leaks that were reported in February, when at one point around 100
tons of highly radioactive water leaked from one the plant’s tanks.
The
February report prompted TEPCO to launch a pumping process at the
site; this began just last Friday. The pumps were confirmed to be
working Monday afternoon, but at 8:45am on Tuesday they were found
stopped.
The
incident and the amount of water already leaked are being checked,
according to the company. The pumps are used to transfer tainted
water from a drainage channel to a channel that leads to an
artificial bay in front of the station, enclosed by a fence.
Earlier
this year, TEPCO stated that last May’s water samples from the
drainage channel contained radioactive materials. The concentration
exceeded the legal limit, which is estimated at just 30 becquerels of
radioactive strontium-90 per liter.
Overall,
in the period between May 2011 and August 2013, according to a series
of statements from the company, groundwater leaks ended up in as many
as 20 trillion becquerels of cesium-137, 10 trillion becquerels of
strontium-90 and 40 trillion becquerels of tritium reaching the sea.
The
Fukushima Daiichi plant tragedy with nuclear meltdown of three of the
plant’s six nuclear reactors was caused by an earthquake-triggered
tsunami in March 2011.
TEPCO’s
efforts to manage the release of the radioactive material have been
slammed by the global community due to its suppression policy. This
year the company was revealed to have been concealing reports of
dangerously high radiation levels at the plant since September.
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