"Sloppy" management of radioactive water

Fukushima safety monitoring body says TEPCO's handling of radioactive water 'sloppy'

http://mainichi.jp/english/english/newsselect/news/20130425p2a00m0na013000c.html 

FUKUSHIMA -- The Fukushima Prefectural Government's council to monitor the process of decommissioning the crippled nuclear power station described Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO)'s handling of radioactive water as "sloppy" after inspecting underground storage tanks on April 24 that were found to be leaking earlier this month.

After inspecting the three troubled underground storage tanks at the Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant, the council tasked with monitoring safety involved with the decommissioning of the crippled atomic power station said, "It requires sophisticated supervision to store contaminated water. The work is sloppy." It is the first time that an on-sight inspection of the underground tanks has been disclosed to the media since the leakages of radioactive water came to light.

The council was established in December last year to monitor the process of decommissioning the crippled nuclear power complex. It consists of officials from 13 municipalities around the nuclear plant in Fukushima Prefecture and experts on handling of radioactive waste and other fields. On April 24, council members inspected how the piping system for the tanks was checked for safety as well as the area around leakage detecting holes on the Nos. 1 to 3 underground storage tanks. The leaky tanks are among seven underground cisterns at the nuclear complex. The council members also inspected above-ground storage tanks to which radioactive water had been and would be transferred from the troubled underground storage tanks.

On the innermost "bentonite" sheet (6.4 millimeters thick) of the three-layered sheets covering the underground storage tanks, Susumu Nakamura, a council member and professor at Nihon University, said, "The leakages could have been prevented if it had been 50 centimeters to 1