400 tons of highly radioactive water going into Pacific each day from Fukushima plant, says Tepco

NYTimes: 400 tons of highly radioactive water going into Pacific each day from Fukushima plant, says Tepco — Top Nuclear Regulator: This is a crisis

Title: New Leaks Into Pacific at Japan Nuclear Plant
Source: New York Times
www.nytimes.com...

Author: Martin Fackler, Matthew L. Wald
Date: August 6, 2013 at ~11:00p ET

Tons of contaminated groundwater from the stricken Fukushima nuclear plant have overwhelmed an underground barrier and are emptying daily into the Pacific, creating what a top regulator has called a crisis.

The water contains strontium and cesium [...]

“Tepco lacks a sufficient sense of urgency for this crisis,” Shinji Kinjo, a high-level official at the country’s nuclear regulatory watchdog, said Tuesday in an interview. [...]

Tepco now says the groundwater is emptying into the plant’s man-made harbor at a rate of 400 tons a day [...] While the company did not specifically say how much of the water was contaminated, it offered a calculation for the amount of tritium being released that assumed all of the water was contaminated.

[...] experts agree with Tepco’s assessment that the amounts of radioactive material released into the Pacific have been too small to pose a risk to human health. Still, some critics contend that the plant has emitted far more radioactive materials than it is saying, based in part on levels of contaminants discovered in the harbor, which are well above safe levels in some places. [...]

Mr. Kinjo [...] said that the levels of contamination in the water that had collected in the reactor buildings was too low to account for the radiation levels seen in the groundwater now flowing into the ocean, so the water at the reactors was unlikely to be the source of the latest leaks.

The most likely source appears to be pools of highly radioactive water that collected in the plant’s maze of underground conduits [...]

enenews.com... s

300 tons of toxic water flowing into sea from Fukushima plant daily: gov't

TOKYO, Aug. 7, Kyodo

Around 300 tons of groundwater containing radioactive substances could be flowing from the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear complex into the adjacent Pacific Ocean, the government said Wednesday in the latest revelation of how Japan is still struggling to contain the 2011 nuclear disaster.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe vowed the same day that the government will firmly support Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s efforts to deal with the massive buildup of radioactive water at the plant, saying he cannot leave the matter up to the utility alone.

Radioactive water is increasing at the plant every day because groundwater is contaminated as it passes through the plant's premises, where three reactors have suffered meltdowns. TEPCO recently admitted that toxic groundwater is leaking into the ocean.

english.kyodonews.jp...

That is so epically tragic. I am here in So Cal. Crazy, but my throat has been killing me for about 10 days.

I am kind of lame on this stuff. But what is the totality of it all?? I can't wrap my head around it.

There is nothing like safe, clean nuclear power. When somebody tells you how safe nuclear power is, shoot them in the kneecaps.

really incredable that Japan let the Tepco NOOBS handeling the situation..
its usual common the companies who are handling there mess just makes an bigger mess of it by brooming it under the carpet due of costs !!!!!

reply to post by GrantedBail


While locally the damage caused by the radioactive waste water leaking from the Fukushima plant is devastating, there is little to no need to worry about contamination to the point of illness and death anywhere near the west coast of North America or elsewhere in the world. Locally though, the radioactive contamination of underwater wildlife, drinking water and generally the soil & air is immense. It is highly advised not to remain anywhere near the plant, and to avoid contact with the water for several kilometers, depending on the oceanic current.

reply to post by groingrinder


It is a little late for that...don't you think?? Now we have to figure out how we get through this most nightmarish of scenarios. Correct me if I am wrong but does Fukishima have the capability to poison all of our waters??

reply to post by Clairaudience


Could you explain this a little further? I think one thing on everyone's mind is if this contaminated water could affect our seafood (like tuna, especially caught near Japan). Could you break down some of the reasons why not to be concerned in places like the U.S.? Thanks in advance.

reply to post by MariaLida


We will hear more about this once all the radioactive water spills into the Pacific....Then once the problem is "solved" in their minds, we can try to act like nothing bad happened....

Unreal this stuff goes basically unnoticed in MSM.....

B.T.W:
guess that the WHO is soon setting the max radiation levels for humans at an higher scale
problem solved....

I'm not nuclear scientist, but look at the gulf, it was only Oil an the chemicals related that leaked there and there is a dead zone still, and effects being shown all around the gulf.

Now, radioactivity is serious joo joo, how am I to go ahead an believe that 300 to 400 tons of radioactive water leaking into the ocean, that is connected to the rest of the world in so many ways we cannot fathom, like rain, food, wind, drinking water after a bit.

How is this water not going to cause world wide problems.

reply to post by Tranceopticalinclined

glow in the dark salmon and crab

reply to post by Chrisfishenstein


You know what is funny, not really funny but sad. We have a horrible right wing element where I live and they vociferous;y make idiotic comments like: "No one died from Fukishima". and so on and so forth. They think it's like a nuke and it just wipes everyone out all at once. They don't get that this stuff is a life-changing event. They just listen to their MSM snooze and get mad about the sale they couldn't get to at Walmart. \

reply to post by GrantedBail


It is sad, but true! "They" really don't care about you, me, or the people around you...."They" don't care about your kids, grandkids or any future generation!

ALL "they" care about is themselves, right here, right now and how much money they have!! It is a purely sick world we live in where people hold this "money" above everything else.....It is man-made and completely fake! People don't understand the world doesn't revolve around this BS currency.....

It is people that will be able to keep the world in tact, and we managed to destroy a lot in our infancy, and it is only getting worse by the day with absolutely NOBODY that cares that has the power to fix this crap!

Sorry about the rant, but it is the honest truth, unfortunately!!

reply to post by GrantedBail

and still claiming that chernobyl was worser....couse politic climate.....Russia still the bad guys .... western country's never make failliers

www.zerohedge.com...

Ripped from the pages of Marvel Comics, Japanese Anime, or Game of Thrones; the latest cunning solution to what the Japanese admit is an ongoing emergency in Fukushima is, well, creative... Now that TEPCO has been shown to be inept, Abe and his government have sanctioned the funding of a 1.4km wall of ice to surround the building that holds Reactors 1 to 4. No this is not Pacific Rim; as Kyodo reports, chemical refrigerants will keep the underground wall frozen to stop the 400 tons of ground water being pumped into the reactors to cool them from leaking further into the sea water surrounding the catastrophe. This must be a positive for GDP, if 'broken windows' can help the Keynesians (and digging and refilling holes) then why not build a giant ice wall that will require unending energy to refrigerate what is a constantly melting-down core of nuclear awfulness. We wish them luck.

I always thought, and I think I read it, so that's why it comes to mind... That water can not be radiated?

Is this true? I could have sworn I had read that you can not irradiate water.

reply to post by theRhenn


u might be right. i think i read something like that too. but i think that radioactive particles can mix in with water. at which point it doesnt matter too much what difference it makes.

maybe there's a way to filter the particles out of the water. but yes i dont think that the water itself gets radiated. but contaminated with radiated particles.

Game.

Set.

Match.

Those nuclear hating ET's better do something or the Pacific Ocean is going to have a healthy glow for the next few decades.