New Leak Suspected at Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Plant

[robdogbucky]

By AKIKO FUJITA (@akikofujita) (@akikofujita)
TOKYO, Japan, May 26, 2011

In what may be yet another setback, the operator of Japan's crippled Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Plant says radioactive water may now be leaking from a wastewater storage facility on site.

The Tokyo Electric Power Company, known as TEPCO, told reporters Thursday that nearly 60 tons of radioactive water may have spilled out, raising further concerns about the utility's ability to handle the worst nuclear crises since Chernobyl.

The latest leak was discovered amid efforts to transfer highly contaminated water from the number 2 and number 3 reactors to an improvised storage facility. TEPCO says the water level in the facility had dropped nearly two inches in just 20 hours, suggesting a leak.

The utility has been pumping massive amounts of water in an effort to cool three of Fukushima's reactors, a process TEPCO has said would be completed in three months. Large leaks have already been reported in reactors 1 and 2, and news of this latest leak is yet another setback in the effort to stabilize the reactors...

http://abcnews.go.com/International/leak-suspected-crippled-japanese-nuclear-plant/story?id=13691431

[truebrit71]

1. 60 tons? Holy moly...

...

[godai]

2. They're dealing with 100,000 tons of radioactive water.

As a team from the International Atomic Energy Agency visits Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s crippled nuclear plant today, academics warn the company has failed to disclose the scale of radiation leaks and faces a “massive problem” with contaminated water.

The utility known as Tepco has been pumping cooling water into the three reactors that melted down after the March 11 earthquake and tsunami. By May 18, almost 100,000 tons of radioactive water had leaked into basements and other areas of the Fukushima Dai-Ichi plant The volume of radiated water may double by the end of December and will cost 42 billion yen ($518 million) to decontaminate. according to Tepco’s estimates.

“Contaminated water is increasing and this is a massive problem,” Tetsuo Iguchi, a specialist in isotope analysis and radiation detection at Nagoya University, said by phone. “They need to find a place to store the contaminated water and they need to guarantee it won’t go into the soil.”




http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-05-27/fukushima-faces-massive-problem-from-radioactive-water.html

[Journeyman]

3. They can store it at the homes of Tepco's management. . .

and in the bellies of all the nuclear garbologists who thought it such a wonderful idea to build such blights upon the planet.

[obxhead]

4. Just like the BP spill.

All of this is likely known, but they let it out bit by tiny bit.

Unlike the BP mess there's no cap for this spill x(

[Aerows]

5. Nothing could possibly be wrong

We've had Japanese people here, on DU, proclaiming that everything is okay, you are an alarmist for even contemplating this could be a global issue, and well, shut up.

[yella_dawg]

6. Greenpeace reported yesterday

Or maybe Wednesday, that tests run outside Japanese territorial waters indicated dangerously high levels of radioactive particles far from the plant.


"New" leak? Define new.