information about Fukushima published in English in Japanese media info publiée en anglais dans la presse japonaise
24 Juillet 2013
July 23, 2013
A Japanese utility said on July 22 its crippled Fukushima nuclear plant is likely leaking contaminated water into sea, acknowledging for the first time a problem long suspected by experts.
Tokyo Electric Power Co., which operates the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, also came under fire July 22 for not disclosing earlier that the number of plant workers with thyroid radiation exposures exceeding threshold levels for increased cancer risks was 10 times what it said released earlier.
The delayed announcements underscored the criticisms the company has faced over the Fukushima crisis. TEPCO has been repeatedly blamed for overlooking early signs, and covering up or delaying the disclosure of problems and mishaps.
Company spokesman Masayuki Ono told a regular news conference that plant officials have come to believe that radioactive water that leaked from the wrecked reactors is likely to have seeped into the underground water system and escaped into sea.
Nuclear officials and experts have suspected a leak from the Fukushima plant since early in the crisis. Japan's nuclear watchdog said two weeks ago a leak was highly suspected and ordered TEPCO to examine the problem.
TEPCO had persistently denied contaminated water reached the sea, despite spikes in radiation levels in underground and sea water samples taken at the plant. The utility first acknowledged an abnormal increase in radioactive cesium levels in an observation well near the coast in May and has since monitored water samples.
Ono said plant officials believe a leak is possible because the underground water levels in suspected areas fluctuate in accordance with tide movements and rainfalls.
"We are very sorry for causing concerns. We have made efforts not to cause any leak to the outside, but we might have failed to do so," he said.
Ono said the radioactive elements detected in water samples are believed to largely come from initial leaks that have remained since earlier in the crisis. He said the leak has stayed near the plant inside the bay, and officials believe very little has spread further into the Pacific Ocean.
TEPCO is currently injecting chemical solution into the coastline embankment to solidify underground structure and block contaminated underground water from escaping into sea--an operation revealed to the Japanese media on July 22.
"Many things have fallen a step behind. You should be ahead of the curve to foresee risks and take measures," said deputy industry minister Kazuyoshi Akaba, who inspected the operation, Japanese media reported.
Marine biologists have warned that the radioactive water may be leaking continuously into the sea from the underground, citing high radioactivity in fish samples taken near the plant.
Most fish and seafood from along the Fukushima coast are barred from domestic markets and exports.
Ono said that an estimated 1,972 plant workers, or 10 percent of those checked, had thyroid exposure doses exceeding 100 millisieverts--a threshold for increased risk of developing cancer--instead of the 178 based on checks of 522 workers reported to the World Health Organization last year.
Source : JDP
Posted on July 23, 2013 by John Hofilena
Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO), operator of the disaster-stricken Fukushima nuclear power facility, has admitted for the first time that radioactive groundwater may be seeping out of the nuclear plant area and out into sea. In tests earlier this month, the embattled utility company said that groundwater samples have shown an increase in levels of cancer-causing cesium-134, but that the contaminated groundwater was contained at the current location by concrete foundations and steel sheets. TEPCO has changed its assessment of the situation on Monday.
“We believe that contaminated water has flown out to the sea,” a TEPCO spokesman said on Monday. The spokesman also insisted the impact of the radioactive water on the ocean would be limited, but the citizens of Fukushima have heard TEPCO make the same claims before, only to take them back when they were pressured to reveal damaging information. “Seawater data have shown no abnormal rise in the levels of radioactivity,” the same spokesman added. At a news conference in Tokyo, another company representative said that TEPCO “sincerely apologizes for worrying many people, especially people in Fukushima.”
To reduce the contamination levels of groundwater, the utility operator said that it would step up efforts to consolidate soil near the harbor in the nuclear facility. Groundwater – in this case contaminated by radioactive elements released by the disastrous meltdowns of the reactors in the plant – usually flows out to sea, and environmental experts say that this kind of leakage may affect marine life, and eventually the people who eat produce from the sea. Tetsu Nozaki, chairman of Fukushima Prefectual Federation of Fisheries Co-operative Associations, said that everyone was deeply concerned at TEPCO’s new revelations. “It was quite shocking,” he in an interview. “TEPCO’s explanation is totally different from the one in the past.” Fishing around Fukushima has been halted and the Japanese and local government has banned beef, milk, mushrooms and vegetables from being produced in the surrounding areas.
http://mainichi.jp/english/english/newsselect/news/20130723p2g00m0dm038000c.html
TOKYO (Kyodo) -- Tokyo Electric Power Co. admitted for the first time Monday that contaminated water has seeped from under its disaster-struck Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant into the Pacific Ocean.
Earlier this month the Nuclear Regulation Authority said that highly radioactive water was "strongly suspected" to be seeping into the ground and contaminating the ocean.
"We have been aiming at preventing the toxic water from spreading to outside of the plant. We offer our sincere apology," a TEPCO official told a press conference at the company's headquarters in Tokyo.
But the company believes that the contamination has been limited mostly to within the port area, saying it has detected no significant impact on the environment.
Concern over the threat of radioactive material escaping into the general environment has spike anew since radioactive substances were recently detected in groundwater collected from an observation well by the sea.
TEPCO said it judged toxic water was seeping into the ocean after it determined underground water was moving between the plant site and the ocean as it detected water levels in observation wells moved up and down in tandem with the tides.
July 23, 2013
http://mainichi.jp/english/english/newsselect/news/20130723p2a00m0na009000c.html
FUKUSHIMA -- Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) said on July 22 that radioactive water was leaking from under its crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant into the Pacific Ocean, raising serious concerns and questions among local fishermen who still face a self-imposed ban on working the sea.
Local fishermen expressed their anger over contaminated water leaking into the ocean, which would spur harmful rumors and cause further damage to the fish industry in Fukushima Prefecture.
Local fisheries cooperatives had planned to start test fishing for whitebait and other fish offshore of Iwaki in September for the first time since the March 2011 disaster. TEPCO's announcement came after cooperative chairmen and related parties had a meeting on the matter with experts on July 22.
"We sensed that contaminated water might be leaking into the ocean," a cooperative-related source in Fukushima commented. Another person questioned the timing of the announcement, saying "I wonder why TEPCO chose the day after (the House of Councillors) election (to admit that the contaminated water was leaking)."
TEPCO officials including managing director Tsunemasa Niitsuma visited the Fukushima prefectural fishery cooperative association in Iwaki to explain the situation at around 3:30 p.m. on July 22. Prefectural cooperative chairman Tetsu Nozaki and chairmen of Iwaki and Soma-Futaba cooperatives reportedly pressed the company to take immediate action to address the problem.
The prefectural fishery cooperative and TEPCO have been discussing the operation of a bypass system, which pumps underground water out into the ocean, as a measure to control the amount of radioactive contaminated water.
Senior cooperative officials said they would continue explaining the situation to their union members, but feelings of growing hostility among fishermen toward TEPCO are "unavoidable."
"It's a tough situation," commented Masakazu Yabuki, chairman of Iwaki fishery cooperative association. "It's TEPCO and the national government's responsibility to restore the ocean in Fukushima," he added.
Hiroyuki Sato, chairman of Soma-Futaba fishery cooperative which started test fishing last summer, expressed his frustration, saying "We have worked so hard to catch 15 types of fish that came in under the national limit (100 becquerels per kilogram) for radioactive contamination screening."
Meanwhile, some 100 Fukushima fishermen expressed their anger and slammed TEPCO for its slow action on handling the situation during an information session held by the company in Iwaki on July 23.
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