Japan:TEPCO warned against radioactive water leak + Related News
Laaska news Dec. 14, 2011
Radioactive water leaking from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant has earned the operator a reprimand. It was the second seepage from the plant’s desalination equipment in less than 10 days.
Tokyo Electric Power Company says the amount was about 30 liters but remained inside the facility housing the machine. The outflow was stopped after valves were tightened.
The Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency warned TEPCO against using the equipment. The agency also asked the company to investigate the cause and take measures to prevent another occurrence.
Earlier this month, about 150 liters of water containing radioactive strontium leaked from the same equipment into the ocean.
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Radioactive cesium detected in Tokyo grade school
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An extremely high reading of radioactive cesium has been detected on a groundsheet at an elementary school in Tokyo.
Officials of Suginami Ward detected 90,600 becquerels per kilogram of radioactive cesium on the sheet. It was used to protect the school lawn against frost from March 18th to April 6th, soon after the Fukushima nuclear accident. The school is located about 230 kilometers from the nuclear plant.
The sheet’s radioactivity level is over 11 times the government’s 8,000 becquerels-per-kilogram limit for disposal by burying underground.
The city is considering incinerating the sheet with other garbage.
The school stored the sheet next to a gymnasium until early November. Ward officials who measured radioactivity near the area where the sheet was kept detected 3.95 microsieverts per hour at about one centimeter above the ground.
A mother whose son and daughter attend the school said she is worried that contamination from the nuclear plant is reaching Tokyo, despite the capital’s distance from Fukushima. She says she wants a thorough inspection of the school building, including windows and gutters.
NHK.
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Laaska News.
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