information about Fukushima published in English in Japanese media info publiée en anglais dans la presse japonaise
10 Juin 2013
Tokyo Electric Power Co. said June 9 that it has transferred all 24,000 tons of highly radioactive water from leaky underground tanks to surface tanks at the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.
TEPCO built seven underground storage tanks in 2012 and 2013 to hold contaminated water at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant.
The utility moved highly radioactive water to steel surface tanks after leaks were found in the No. 2 and No. 3 underground tanks in early April. The cause of the leaks remains unknown.
At one of the surface tanks, water was found spilling from around a bolt connecting the steel plates that form the tank’s wall on June 5. TEPCO said the leak stopped after some of the water was removed and put in another storage tank.
The No. 4 underground storage tank holds 3,000 tons of low-level radioactive water that had accumulated in the basements of the No. 5 and No. 6 reactor buildings.
TEPCO plans to begin moving the water to the basement of the No. 6 reactor turbine building in mid-June.
A total of 300,000 tons of contaminated water is stored in tanks and other facilities on the plant premises. The amount is increasing 400 tons a day as groundwater and rainwater flow into the buildings.
http://mainichi.jp/english/english/newsselect/news/20130610p2g00m0dm001000c.html
TOKYO (Kyodo) -- The operator of the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant said Sunday it has completed the transfer of radioactive water from leaky underground storage cisterns to steel tanks.
The amount of water transferred totaled around 24,000 tons, Tokyo Electric Power Co. said. The stored water had been used to cool the reactors at the plant.
There are seven underground cisterns at the plant site, but three were found to be leaking in April. TEPCO has since been transferring the radioactive water to the newly installed steel tanks.
TEPCO has yet to indentify the cause of the leaks from the underground cisterns.
The utility initially estimated around 120 tons of contaminated water had leaked from one of the cisterns, but later revised down the amount to about 20 liters.
TEPCO said Wednesday that it had also found radioactive water dripping from one of the newly installed steel tanks.
June 9, 2013
TEPCO completes water transfer in Fukushima
http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/news/20130610_03.html
The operator of the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant completed the transfer of radioactive water from leaking underground storage pools to tanks above ground on Sunday.
A series of leaks of highly contaminated water were found in April.
Tokyo Electric Power Company decided to stop using all of the 7 underground storage pools and move about 24,000 tons of contaminated water to tanks above ground.
Workers started the transfer on April 16th and finished it on Sunday afternoon, leaving behind some low-level contaminated water.
TEPCO plans to store all of the water above ground, but the amount of contaminated water at the site is increasing every day.
The utility plans to install more tanks, as well as taking some measures to reduce the amount of the water. But there's only limited space for the tanks.
The utility is also finding it difficult to get an agreement from local fishermen for its plan to release groundwater into the sea before it seeps into the reactor buildings.
TEPCO says the plan would reduce the volume of contaminated water. But fishermen are worried about the harm from rumors spreading that their products could be contaminated.