Dilemma removing highly radioactive water at Fukushima nuclear plant
TOKYO, April 14 (Kyodo) — The government’s nuclear safety agency on Thursday continued to grapple with pools of highly radioactive water at the crisis-hit Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, as the level of polluted water filling an underground trench edged up again after it finished pumping out around 660 tons of water. The removal of around 60,000 tons of contaminated water from the basements of the Nos. 1 to 3 reactor turbine buildings as well as trenches connected to them is vital because the water is hampering work to restore the cooling functions of the reactors lost since the March 11 earthquake and ensuing tsunami. The pools of contaminated water are believed to be a side effect of plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s emergency efforts to continue injecting water into the reactors and their spent nuclear fuel pools from outside to cool them down. The operator known as TEPCO pumped out around 660 tons of highly radioactive water Tuesday and Wednesday from one of the trenches to a ”condenser” inside the nearby No. 2 reactor turbine building, where during normal operation steam from the reactor is converted into water. But the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency said that the water level in the vertical part of the trench as of 11 a.m. Thursday had increased by about 4.5 centimeters from the level observed at 6 p.m. Wednesday. The level of the water is now only 1.5 centimeters lower than shortly before the water-transfer mission started at 7:35 p.m. Tuesday. Hidehiko Nishiyama, the agency’s spokesman, told a morning press conference that the rise in the water level is likely linked to the continued injection of water into the No. 2 reactor core, which is necessary to prevent the nuclear fuel inside from overheating. ”As there is believed to be around 20,000 tons of water (in the No. 2 reactor turbine building and the trench connected to it), we’re feeling the difficulty of lowering the level of the water in a stable manner,” he said. …
Removing highly toxic water remains difficult task at nuke plant
TOKYO, April 15 (Kyodo) — The concentration levels of radioactive iodine and cesium in groundwater near the troubled Nos. 1 and 2 reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant have increased up to several dozen times in one week, suggesting that toxic water has seeped from nearby reactor turbine buildings or elsewhere, Tokyo Electric Power Co. said Thursday. The announcement came as the plant operator continued to grapple with pools of highly radioactive water found on the plant’s premises, with the level of polluted water filling an underground trench edging up again after the company finished pumping out around 660 tons of water. According to the latest findings, a groundwater sample taken April 6 near the No. 1 reactor turbine building showed radioactive iodine-131 of 72 becquerels per cubic meter, with the concentration level growing to 400 becquerels as of Wednesday. The concentration level of cesium-134 increased from 1.4 becquerels to 53 becquerels. …
