Radioactive water leaked inside a nuclear power plant in southwestern Japan, but did not escape into the environment, the government said yesterday, the latest problem for the country’s nuclear industry amid an ongoing crisis at another plant.
The leak on Friday at Kyushu Electric Power’s Genkai plant occurred as Japan continues its attempts to stabilize a tsunami-hit nuclear plant on its northeastern coast, where three reactor cores melted and large amounts of radiation were released into the air and ocean.
Japan’s Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency spokesman Tetsuya Saito said 1.8 tonnes of radioactive water leaked from a pump in Genkai’s No. 3 reactor and the cause was still under investigation.
NO SAFETY RISK
The water was funneled into a storage area and posed no safety risk, he said.
Kyushu Electric issued a -statement on Friday about a pump problem, but did not mention the leak. Officials at the utility were not immediately available for comment yesterday.
“There have been various problems at Genkai,” Saito said. “But there is no safety problem as a result of what happened this time.”
Genkai Mayor Hideo Kishimoto said that Kyushu Electric has not been fully open with information.
“The local government needs to know,” Kyodo News agency quoted him as saying. “I have repeatedly demanded that the utility change its ways.”
Last month, Kyushu Electric restarted Genkai’s No. 4 reactor after it automatically shut down following an abnormality in a steam condenser that did not cause any radiation leaks or injuries. The No. 3 reactor was halted for a routine inspection when the pump problem developed.
In the wake of the tsunami-spawned nuclear crisis, the government has said it will gradually decrease Japan’s dependence on nuclear power and has sought to restart nuclear plants halted for inspections.
PROGRESS AT FUKUSHIMA
On Friday, Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda said work to stabilize the tsunami-hit Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant was on track.
Noda said temperatures in the three melted reactor cores have fallen below the boiling point and radiation leaks have declined. However, some experts say the state of the cores won’t be known for years.
A March 11 earthquake and tsunami destroyed the plant’s power and cooling systems, in the world’s worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl.
Radiation believed to be from Fukushima has been detected in a wide range of Japanese products, including rice, beef, fish and baby formula.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of
A prominent Christian leader has allegedly been stabbed at the altar during a Mass yesterday in southwest Sydney. Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel was saying Mass at Christ The Good Shepherd Church in Wakeley just after 7pm when a man approached him at the altar and allegedly stabbed toward his head multiple times. A live stream of the Mass shows the congregation swarm forward toward Emmanuel before it was cut off. The church leader gained prominence during the COVID-19 pandemic, amassing a large online following, Officers attached to Fairfield City police area command attended a location on Welcome Street, Wakeley following reports a number