Shocked fishermen feel betrayed

 February 25, 2015

Shocked’ at silence over water leak at wrecked Fukushima No. 1 plant

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2015/02/25/national/tepco-admits-failed-disclose-cesium-tainted-water-leaks-since-april/#.VO3IYy51Cos

Kyodo, JIJI, Staff Report

Fishermen in Fukushima Prefecture slammed Tokyo Electric Power Co. on Wednesday after it emerged that water containing cesium and other radioactive isotopes has been draining into the Pacific near the Fukushima No. 1 plant and that Tepco did nothing to prevent it despite learning of the leak last May.

“I don’t understand why (Tepco) kept silent even though they knew about it. Fishery operators are absolutely shocked,” Masakazu Yabuki, chief of the Iwaki fisheries cooperative, said at a meeting with Tepco officials.

Local fishermen have already given Tepco approval to dump groundwater into the ocean before it becomes tainted, to reduce the volume of water stored in tanks at the site. The operator is now doing this, pumping water from wells, monitoring it and piping it into the ocean.

The latest incident threatens to delay a second round of approval that Tepco wants the fishermen to provide.

The utility admitted Tuesday it failed to disclose leaks of rainwater containing radioactive substances from a drainage ditch at the stricken plant even though it was aware of high radiation in the water last spring.

The ditch receives runoff from the roof of the No. 2 reactor building, which is highly contaminated with radioactive substances such as cesium.

Tepco has said it recorded 29,400 becquerels of radioactive cesium per liter in water pooled on the rooftop.

The water also contained 52,000 becquerels of beta-ray-emitting radioactive substances such as strontium-90. It also detected some 1,050 becquerels of radioactive cesium and 1,500 becquerels of beta ray-emitting radioactive materials per liter near an outlet leading to the sea.

Tepco said there is no major change in the concentration of radioactive substances in seawater it sampled about 1 km from the drainage outlet.

Meanwhile on Sunday, Tepco reported water contaminated with high levels of radiation was flowing into the ocean at the plant’s port through another drainage ditch.

Yuji Moriyama, a Tepco spokesman said the utility did not disclose the information because there is no evidence of environmental impact.

“We were aware that the levels of radioactive materials around the drainage ditch were higher than other places,” Moriyama said, adding that they have been investigating the sources of contamination since last spring.

Fishermen accuse TEPCO of betrayal

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/news/20150225_24.html

Feb. 25, 2015 - Updated 08:03 UTC+1

Fishermen are accusing the operator of the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant of betraying their trust. The power company has admitted it did not take steps to prevent some contaminated rainwater from spilling into the Pacific Ocean.

Tokyo Electric Power Company officials said on Tuesday the water had accumulated on the roof of the No.2 reactor building. They said the water contained relatively high levels of radioactive substances, and that it may have leaked into the sea through a drainage channel.

TEPCO officials said they were aware last April that the density of radioactive substances in the channel rose when it rained. But they did not make that information public, or take steps to prevent the water from leaking into the sea.

A TEPCO official on Wednesday apologized for the spill at a meeting of the heads of local fisheries cooperatives. But he said the company found no major changes in the level of radioactive substances in the sea near the plant. He said radiation levels in the drainage channel were lower than those in the water on the roof.

Some fisheries chiefs said they felt betrayed after working with TEPCO to settle the problem.

They said the firm's repeated concealment of information has helped fuel the rumors that are hurting the local fishing industry.