Leaks from barriers

April 4, 2014

Rainwater leaks from barriers at Fukushima Daiichi

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/news/20140404_21.html 

Rainwater overflowed the barriers around some of the tanks storing contaminated water at the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.

This came after the heavy rains that hit the area from Thursday night through Friday. TEPCO said the total rainfall for the first 6 hours of Friday reached 70 millimeters at the plant.

TEPCO patrol staff discovered on Friday morning that water was leaking from the barriers around a storage tank south of the Number 4 reactor.

Water overflowed the inner, 25 centimeter-high barrier.
It appears to have leaked from the bottom of the outer barrier, which is still under construction.

TEPCO said levels of radioactive materials such as cesium and strontium contained in the water were below detectible amounts. Workers piled up sandbags around the barriers to stop further leaks.

Water was also found to have leaked out of the barriers around another tank to the north of the Number One reactor on the same day.

TEPCO is checking whether the leaked water is contaminated.

The utility had been working to transfer water that had already built up inside the barriers into 3 tanks to prevent overflowing due to the heavy rains.

Apr. 4, 2014 - Updated 07:22 UTC