Fukushima nuclear plant leaking contaminated water

[Hum]

TOKYO (Reuters) - As much as 120 tons of radioactive water may have leaked from a storage tank at Japan's crippled Fukushima nuclear plant, contaminating the surrounding ground, Tokyo Electric Power Company said on Saturday.

The power company has yet to discover the cause of the leak, detected on one of seven tanks that store water used to cool the plants reactors, a spokesman for the company, Masayuki Ono, said at a press briefing.

The company plans to pump 13,000 cubic meters of water remaining in the tank to other vessels over the next two weeks.

Water from the leaking tank, which located 800 meters from the coast, is not expected to reach the sea, Kyodo news wire reported, earlier, citing unidentified officials from the utility.

The company did not say how long the tank had been leaking.

The operator of the Fukushima Daiichi plant has faced a range of problems with controlling ground water and maintaining the massive cooling system built to keep the reactors stable.

The power company said on Friday said it lost the ability to cool radioactive fuel rods in one of the plant's reactors for about three hours.

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[Growled Member]

Oh, that's not good at all. As many problems as they are having there it might be a good idea just to shut that planet down.

[Nashy]

Oh, that's not good at all. As many problems as they are having there it might be a good idea just to shut that planet down.

I don't believe they are using it for power production as all the reactors are damaged. You can't simply flick a switch, they need to keep control of the cooling and rods unfortunately.

[n_K]

Last I remember hearing it was being shut down, but as said, you can't just 'stop' a started nuclear reaction, you need to expend all the fuel at a slow safe rate before you can then remove it from the reactor and dispose of it.

The more I hear about this nuclear plant, the more of a cowboy job it sounds.

[Mr. Gibs]

The more I hear about this nuclear plant, the more of a cowboy job it sounds.

It was a cowboy job. Tepco cut lots of corners, even in the type of reactor design, in order to save money.

Sadly thanks to them most people are now terrified of nuclear power. Though the major news networks have quite a big part to play in that too since they made it seem like the end of the world would happen.

[+Warwagon MVC]

Well the name says it all Fukushima!

[necroxd]

Takes a special kind of someone to think it's a good idea to stick backup generators in the basement when your so close to the coast line.

[Hum]

I'm checking my fish for radioactivity :s

[Growled Member]

^ You better.