In Reversal, Tepco Says Water at Fukushima Is Contaminated

[alp227]

Source: New York Times

In an embarrassing reversal from its earlier claims, the operator of Japan’s stricken Fukushima nuclear plant said that radioactive particles have been detected in groundwater flowing into the plant, an admission that could raise renewed questions about the company’s ability to handle the plant’s cleanup.

While the level of contamination is very low, its discovery amounts to an admission of error by the operator, Tokyo Electric Power Company, or Tepco, which had previously said that no particles had been detected in the water. The reversal, announced on Tuesday, is the latest in a string of mistakes and minor mishaps at the plant. Those mistakes have added to growing criticism of the government’s decision to leave the tricky cleanup in the hands of Tepco, the company that many blame for allowing the accident to happen in the first place.

The discovery could also create additional problems for Tepco by jeopardizing its plans for alleviating a growing water crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi plant. The company has been struggling to slow groundwater that has been flowing into the basements of the damaged reactor buildings at a rate of 100,000 gallons per day, threatening the makeshift system that cools the crippled reactors. The water, which becomes highly contaminated once it comes in contact with the reactor buildings, must then be stored in huge metal tanks, which have filled every available space at the plant.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/06/world/asia/tepco-says-water-at-fukushima-is-contaminated.html

[bluedigger]

1. Has Tepco ever been right the first time about anything?

This company is setting a new low for pathological corporate lying.

[heaven05]

2. this

is a first class, of the highest magnitude, clusterf...! this plant has been leaking radioactive water into the ocean since day one. It's still leaking! "No radioactive particles in the water" is and was a lie. Why am I not surprised at the 'reversal"?

[Myrina]

3. So now that they've admitted it for sure ....

... can we start to address what it's going to mean for the water supply & the threat of radioactive everything (over there and eventually over here)?

[FBaggins]

5. Sure we can address it.

This news doesn't "mean" much of anything (other than that they got the first estimate wrong).

The levels that they've reported are not technically zero (which is why they had to do the correction), but they're well below and level for concern.

They would, for instance, be pretty close to the old "2-liters per day for 70-years" drinking water standard.

[RobertEarl]

7. You have a link to that?

This: "...the old "2-liters per day for 70-years" drinking water standard. "

[FBaggins]

8. Why would it matter?

You're immune to the facts anyway.

Just loop up drinking water guidelines for cesium. Let me know if you need help with the math.

[RobertEarl]

9. Hey

I just figured you'd be proud to back up your claim.

And I notice you are another long term poster with an EMPTY journal.

I guess you are not proud of your efforts on DU?

[PearliePoo2]

4. TEPCO is losing this one and our planet IS suffering the consequences.

!00,000 fucking gallons of groundwater each and every day that instantly becomes contaminated. It's hard to even imagine that amount of water each and every day! Month after month, year after year.
TEPCO has absolutely no clue what to do. They are criminals, they should be removed from any work on this catastrophe and all of them incarcerated for life.

[PearliePoo2]

6. Now the government is entering the picture.

"With no way to decontaminate the water, the company has no choice but to store it. Wednesday’s leak underscored the risks of doing so at the plant, where a larger spill might potentially reach the nearby Pacific Ocean. The leaking tank had just been installed to store toxic water from an underground storage pond that needed to be emptied after it, too, sprang a leak.

Faced with growing public alarm over the water crisis, the government last week ordered Tepco to stop the influx of groundwater by freezing soil around the reactor buildings, a novel plan that calls for creating a wall of underground ice. The company has also planned to reduce the influx by pumping some of the groundwater into the sea before it reaches the buildings and becomes contaminated.

However, the pumping plan needs the approval of residents and commercial fishermen in areas outside the evacuation zone immediately around the plant, who have been slowly regaining their livelihoods since the meltdowns spewed radiation over northeastern Japan. The company had been offering them reassurances that the water to be dumped contained no radioactive particles that could further contaminate the ocean."

Those plans could now be jeopardized by Tuesday’s admission that the groundwater in fact does contain cesium, a byproduct of the meltdowns. The company, which conceded that it had erred in previous tests, said it had found up to 0.39 becquerels of radioactive cesium 137 per liter of water, an amount that is far below Japan’s safety level for drinking water of 10 becquerels per liter.

Still, it may be enough to scuttle or at least put on hold the company’s plan to pump groundwater into the sea. Just last week, the company had sought to persuade local fishing cooperatives by telling them that levels of cesium in the groundwater were so low that they could not be detected. Those reassurances were met with intense skepticism by fishermen who, even before Tuesday’s admissions, said they no longer trusted any claims made by Tepco.

They are now so desperate, they will try anything! Including freezing the soil to make an ice dam.

[Mnemosyne]

10. K&R nt

[muriel_volestrangler]

11. Fukushima nuclear plant: Radioactive water leak found

Radioactive water is leaking from a storage tank at Japan's Fukushima plant, its operator says.

Nuclear plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco) said a worker discovered the leak on Wednesday.

On Tuesday, Tepco also announced that it had found radioactive caesium in ground water around the plant.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-22793353

The press release:

Today (June 5), at around 12:15PM, our corporate company worker found water leaking at a pace of 1 drop per 3-4 seconds from the joint between the second and third layer (counting from the bottom) steel plates of the G6-1 Area No.9 tank side wall during patrol.

The leaking water has not reached on the concrete basement inside the dike, since we have put an absorber on the spot.

The No.9 tank has been isolated (water transfer has been stopped) from the other seventeen G6-1 area tanks at 12:20PM. Furthermore, we will tighten the joint.

The water transfer from the underground reservoir No.6 to the G6 area has also been stopped at 12:45PM for just in case.

http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/press/corp-com/release/2013/1228109_5130.html