Leakage Doubted

Highly contaminated water has been found in the wells around the First Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant. Since those wells are located close to the shoreline, the water is doubted to have leaked into the sea. The problem is both Tokyo Electric Power Company and the government cannot determine where the water comes from. The later information is delivered, the lower people’s credibility to TEPCO and the government becomes. This shows that the crisis in Fukushima is still going on.

TEPCO announced on Tuesday that its team had observed 9,000bq per litter of Cesium 134 and 18,000 per litter of Cesium 137 in the water of the Observation Well 1, which was dug at the coast side of the second reactor of the plant. The consistency of contaminated water has been raised by 86 to 91 times from that of four days ago. “The reason of the rise is unclear. It is possible that mud with radioactive cesium was infused into the water. We will confirm it anyway,” explained TEPCO.

Various radioactive materials were identified in other wells on Friday. In the Observation Well 3, located 200 meters south of No. 1, there found were 1,400bq of Strontium. TEPCO also found 630,000bq of Tritium in another well closer to the sea. The level was raised from the time they were found in May.

Nobody has persuasive answer on where the materials come from. TEPCO explains that it was possible for radioactive materials leaked right after the accident two year ago to have flown into the well. However, the Nuclear Regulation Authority indicated the possibility of leak of highly contaminated water into the land had been occurred and doubted certain amount of water leakage into the sea.

Asahi Shimbun points out a possibility of continuous leakage from underground tunnels, which contain great amount of contaminated water after cooling down the broken reactors. Tokyo Shimbun analyzes that there are two origins. It indicates that Cesium is brought from the water beneath the reactor, and Strontium and Tritium, each of which diffuses beta ray, are from the water used for cooling down. Tokyo’s analysis means double leakage. Being skeptical about TEPCO’s explanation, NRA decided to set up a team for the investigation.

There is a huge amount of contaminated water alongside of the plant, which was produced by cooling down the reactors. If that water has been leaked, it leads to an unprecedented contamination of seawater. With active effect of river system, the Japanese has tended to believe that seawater cleans everything brought from land. But, even the sea cannot accept that amount of radioactive materials.