Storm - TEPCO taking "precautions"

September 16,2013

Crippled Fukushima plant braces for storm 

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/news/20130916_13.html

The operator of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant is taking precautions to prevent contaminated water from overflowing, as a strong storm approaches.

Workers at the nuclear plant have placed weights on large cranes to stop them toppling over. The cranes are used to move debris around the reactor buildings.

They have also tied down outdoor pumps and piping, used to inject water into the reactors.

Tokyo Electric Power Company is strengthening patrols to stop rain from overflowing the basement of turbine buildings and the underground tunnel where highly contaminated water has accumulated.

Workers took water samples from behind the barrier surrounding the storage tank on the mountain side of the Number 4 reactor. More than 300 tons of contaminated water leaked from the tank last month.

They say they detected 170,000 becquerels of strontium and other radioactive substances per liter of water.

TEPCO says they will transfer the water behind the barrier, to a nearby tank and do the same for water in other areas where radioactivity is high.

On Sunday afternoon, workers found water overflowing around a separate tank.

They detected 37 becquerels of beta-ray emitting radioactive substances per liter of water.

TEPCO officials say that level is lower compared to the water in the tank, and that only rainwater brought by the storm accumulated and overflowed.

TEPCO says that for the day, they have cancelled the construction of new storage tanks and the building of steel walls along the embankment designed to prevent contaminated groundwater reaching the sea.

Sep. 16, 2013 - Updated 03:23 UTC