10 Apr (NucNet): The operator of the Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear power plant in Japan has installed temporary pumps in an effort to stop the leaking of contaminated water from two water storage reservoirs at the crippled facility.
Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco) said in a statement that the suspected leaks of radioactive water are in reservoirs 1 and 2 at the plant, which was hit by an earthquake and tsunami in March 2011.
In order to prevent the water leaking into the ground and groundwater in the surrounding area, Tepco today installed temporary pumps to return the leaking water to the reservoirs.
The pumping will continue until Tepco is able to transfer the contaminated water from reservoirs 1 and 2 to an above-ground tank. Work to construct this tank is under way, Tepco said.
Tepco said yesterday that two of seven underground tanks at the plant had been leaking since Saturday if not earlier.
The tanks are crucial to the management of contaminated water used to cool melted fuel rods at the plant’s reactors, which were damaged by the earthquake and tsunami.
Contaminated water of “a comparatively high concentration” has been found on the northeast side of underground reservoir number 2. Tepco said it is removing soil in this area to perform a visual inspection of the leak.
Tepco is also surveying the soil around the tanks so it can test the water for radioactivity concentration analysis. It said initial sampling of groundwater near the reservoirs showed levels of radioactivity were “below detection limits”. The detection limit given by Tepco is 20 becquerel per litre (Bq/ℓ)
Tepco initially said that while water may have leaked into the ground, it did not believe the water had reached the sea. Trial drilling work was being carried out in order to confirm this assumption.
Updates are online:
http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/press/corp-com/release/index-e.html
