Rushing to keep ahead of storm

October 25, 2013

TEPCO rushes to transfer contaminated water

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/news/20131025_40.html

The operator of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant is rushing to take measures to prevent radioactive water in outdoor barriers from overflowing as a severe tropical storm approaches.

Water in barriers around tanks has been accumulating after a series of heavy rains since mid-September. The water is contaminated with radioactive substances.

The tainted water overflowed 11 barriers on Sunday.
At 6 of them, the spilled rainwater contained radioactive strontium above the government-approved release limit.

Tokyo Electric Power Company is transferring water from barriers to other tanks capable of holding a total of 4,000 tons.

TEPCO also plans to move the tainted water to underground pools. Some of those pools leaked radioactive water in April.

The utility has added 19 additional pumps, each of which can deal with 60 tons per hour, as well as 12 vehicles such as fire engines and water tank trucks.

But as of 4PM on Friday, the company did not finish the transfer work at some barriers.

On Thursday, Japan's Nuclear Regulation Authority allowed TEPCO to simplify its procedure to release water from barriers by eliminating the step of temporarily transferring it to other tanks.

But the measure will be taken only if contamination levels in barriers are below the NRA-set standard.

Oct. 25, 2013 - Updated 10:46 UTC