Toxic waste water out of control

 March 11, 2015

Contaminated wastewater yet to be controlled

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/news/20150311_26.html

Mar. 11, 2015 - Updated 11:02 UTC+1

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/news/20150311_26.html

Contaminated wastewater continues to accumulate at the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in northeastern Japan.

The amount is increasing by about 350 tons a day as groundwater seeps into the plant's No.1 through No.4 reactor buildings and mixes with highly radioactive wastewater pooled there.

The plant's operator, Tokyo Electric Power Company, or TEPCO, pumps up the wastewater to store it in tanks. 600,000 tons, including processed water, is stored at the facility. This plus wastewater pooled in the buildings brings the total to 680,000 tons.

The government and TEPCO have been pumping up groundwater to keep it out of the plant, and releasing it into the sea since last May. They say this has reduced the daily inflow of groundwater by about 100 tons.

Also underway are efforts to keep groundwater out of the site by freezing soil around the buildings and surrounding them with a wall of ice 1,500 meters long. TEPCO plans to start making the ice wall this month.

But a plan to pump up groundwater from a monitoring well near the buildings, filter it and release it into the sea has been fiercely opposed by local fishers.

TEPCO has installed 3 systems to remove almost all radioactive substances from the wastewater. But their processing rate remains below an initial estimate.

The utility had planned to finish processing the water this month, but gave up on doing so. It now estimates that removing some of the radioactive substances will take until May. The water must then be reprocessed, to lower risks.

It was revealed last month that contaminated rainwater that had pooled on the roof of the No. 2 reactor building had been leaking out to sea through a drainage channel.

TEPCO knew as far back as April last year that radiation levels in the channel rose every time it rained. The firm's failure to disclose this has drawn strong protests from local fishers and municipalities.