Levels of radioactive cesium in a well at the Fukushima nuclear power plant are 90 times higher than just three days ago, and may spread into the Pacific Ocean. Meanwhile, 10 applications to restart closed reactors under stricter rules have been received.
Read RT’s article about a hero Fukushima ex-manager who died of cancer
TEPCO, the company that operated the plant and is now in charge of the cleanup and decommissioning, said that cesium levels of 27,000 Becquerel’s per liter, from a well on the seaward side of reactor Number 2 building, the highest cesium levels found since the March 2011 disaster.
“It is unclear whether the radioactive water is leaking into the sea. After gathering needed data, we will conduct analyses,” a TEPCO official told Japanese media.
Although the levels of cesium collected on July 8 were 90 times higher than those collected just three days earlier on July 5, levels of other radioactive materials, such as strontium, remained the same as three days earlier.
“We do not know why only cesium levels have risen,” a TEPCO spokesman said.
The findings in one of four wells dug by TEPCO at Fukushima since May 4, 2013, come just days after new safety rules came into force designed to avoid a repeat of the disaster and allow Japan to restart it nuclear power stations.
At present only two of Japan’s 50 reactors are connected to the grid, but the government is forging ahead with plans to reopen them, in the face of a skeptical public and rising imported fossil fuel bills to run conventional power stations.
This is a copy of the full article provided by RT
(Photo: Wikipedia)
