New leak found at crippled Fukushima nuclear plant
Iran Press TV
Tue Aug 20, 2013 3:5PM GMT
The operator of Japan’s Fukushima nuclear power plant confirms the leak of at least 300 tons of radioactive water from a storage tank into the ground at the coastal facility.
Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) said the leak of the highly radioactive water was discovered on Monday.
Officials say the leak was a level-one incident on an international scale that measures nuclear events.
The developments happened nearly two weeks after Shinji Kinjo, the head of Japan's Nuclear Regulatory Authority (NRA) accused TEPCO of neglecting the issue.
"TEPCO's sense of crisis is weak," Kinjo said in early August, adding, "This is why you can't just leave it up to TEPCO alone to grapple with the ongoing disaster."
The regulatory watchdog also said the country's crippled Fukushima nuclear plant was leaking contaminated water into the nearby Pacific Ocean.
However, TEPCO says it has taken various measures to stop the leakage.
The massive amount of radioactive water is among the most pressing issues affecting the cleanup-- a process that's expected to take decades.
The Fukushima plant was destroyed in a mega earthquake followed by a tsunami on March 11, 2011. At that time, the Japanese government allowed TEPCO to dump thousands of tons of radioactive water into the sea in an emergency move.
This comes while a Japanese parliamentary panel has found that the incident at the Fukushima nuclear plant had been a “man-made disaster” and not only a result of the tsunami. The report criticized “governments, regulatory authorities and Tokyo Electric Power” for being devoid of “a sense of responsibility to protect people’s lives and society.”
JR/PR
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