Fukushima leak ‘flows’ into Pacific

Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) said on Thursday that the leak was found earlier in the day from a pipe attached to a temporary decontamination system, and the water contaminated with radioactive element strontium had already gone through some of the cleansing process.

“Our officials confirmed that cooling water leaked at a joint in the pipes,” a TEPCO spokesman said on condition of anonymity.

He added that “it is possible that part of the water may have flowed outside the facility and poured into the ocean.”

The spokesman noted that the leak has since been plugged, and the utility was probing the cause of the accident and how much, if any, water flowed into the Pacific.

The accident was the latest of several leaks of radioactive water at the troubled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.

Last month, about 120 tons of radioactive water leaked at the plant’s water decontamination system and about 80 liters seeped into the ocean, according to TEPCO.

The Japanese nuclear crisis began on March 11, 2011, after a magnitude-9 earthquake and a following tsunami hit the country including Fukushima Island.

The waves from the tsunami, which hit Fukushima nuclear plant 45 minutes after the quake, shut down the back-up generators. The early damage disabled the reactor’s cooling systems, leading to meltdowns, explosions and radiation leaks.

MP/HN/GHN

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