Authorities at Japan’s crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant say the facility’s basements have been mistakenly filled with highly contaminated water.
The basements were flooded with about 200 tons of cooling-tank radioactive water after pumps were turned on by mistake.
The plant’s operator, Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), says the water didn’t have a pathway to reach the ocean or leak out to any other areas. The incident is the latest in a series of leaks.
In August 2013, the operator admitted that up to 300 tons of highly contaminated groundwater was seeping into the Pacific Ocean every day.
In February 2014, TEPCO had to halt some decontamination work when a pump that sent radioactive water to a treatment device shut down.
The developments come three years after a devastating earthquake and tsunami destroyed the plant’s power and cooling system, triggering multiple meltdowns at the Fukushima Daiichi.
The incident is the world’s worst atomic accident since Chernobyl in 1986.
TEPCO is still struggling with the clean-up efforts, saying the clean-up will take decades and cost more than one hundred fifty billion dollars.
A report released by a Japanese parliamentary panel later said the incident at the Fukushima nuclear plant was not only due to the tsunami, but also a “man-made disaster.” The report criticized the “government, regulatory authorities and Tokyo Electric Power Company” for being devoid of “a sense of responsibility to protect people’s lives and society.”
JR/PR
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