Same route as in April 2011?

July 24, 2013

Radioactive material may have leaked from tunnel

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/news/20130724_24.html

Japan's nuclear regulators suspect that contaminated wastewater may be seeping into the sea from an underground utility tunnel at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.

Highly radioactive substances have been detected in coastal observation wells on the plant's premises, and in nearby seawater, since May this year.

The plant's operator, Tokyo Electric Power Company, admitted for the first time on Monday that wastewater is leaking into the sea.

Members of the Nuclear Regulation Authority discussed the issue on Wednesday. They pointed out that highly contaminated wastewater that has filled an underground utility tunnel between the turbine building and the sea may have seeped through layers of gravel that cover the floor of the tunnel.

This is the same route through which contaminated wastewater is believed to have leaked out to sea in April 2011.

The authority's chairman Shunichi Tanaka said the contamination must be prevented from spreading outside the harbor.

The authority plans to launch an expert panel to discuss measures to this end.