The company that runs a Japanese nuclear power plant destroyed by a tsunami two years ago said yesterday it was losing faith in temporary storage pits for radioactive water — but it does not have anywhere else to put it.
Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) said it had found a suspected new leak at one of the pits at the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant. If confirmed, that would mean three out of seven storage pits were now leaking, compounding clean-up difficulties after the world’s worst nuclear crisis in 25 years.
“We cannot deny the fact that our faith in the underwater tanks is being lost,” TEPCO general manager Masayuki Ono told a hastily arranged news conference.
“We can’t move all the contaminated water to above ground [tanks] if we opt not to use the underground reservoirs,” Ono said. “There isn’t enough capacity and we need to use what is available.”
A tsunami crashed into the power plant north of Tokyo on March 11, 2011, causing fuel-rod meltdowns at three reactors, radioactive contamination of air, sea and food and triggering the evacuation of 160,000 people.
The suspected fresh leak was found in the No. 1 storage pool where contaminated water from the leaking No. 2 pit was being transferred. TEPCO has halted the transfer of the contaminated water.
Ono on Monday said TEPCO did not have enough tank space should it need to move the water out of the storage pits, which were dug into higher ground away from the damaged reactors and lined with waterproof material.
The company has stepped up construction of the sturdier tanks, he said.
TEPCO said over the weekend about 120,000 liters of contaminated water leaked from the No. 2 and 3 pits. The plant’s cooling system has also broken down twice in recent weeks.
The Japanese government instructed TEPCO to carry out a “fundamental” review of the problems at the plant, Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told reporters on Monday.
TEPCO President Naomi Hirose was also summoned to the Japanese Industry Ministry to explain the leaks and got a public dressing down from the minister, Toshimitsu Motegi.
In the immediate aftermath of explosions at the plant, TEPCO released some radioactive water into the sea, prompting protests from neighboring countries.
Many nations put restrictions on imports of Japanese food after the disaster.
It was the worst nuclear accident since the Chernobyl disaster in 1986.
Last month, a senior TEPCO executive said the company was struggling to stop groundwater flooding into the damaged reactor buildings and it may take as long as four years to fix the problem.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
RIVER TRAGEDY: Local fishers and residents helped rescue people after the vessel capsized, while motorbike taxis evacuated some of the injured At least 58 people going to a funeral died after their overloaded river boat capsized in the Central African Republic’s (CAR) capital, Bangui, the head of civil protection said on Saturday. “We were able to extract 58 lifeless bodies,” Thomas Djimasse told Radio Guira. “We don’t know the total number of people who are underwater. According to witnesses and videos on social media, the wooden boat was carrying more than 300 people — some standing and others perched on wooden structures — when it sank on the Mpoko River on Friday. The vessel was heading to the funeral of a village chief in