More radioactive water may leak from Fukushima plant. 2011/05/25

More radioactive water may leak from Fukushima plant.
2011/05/25
Tokyo Electric Power Co. is fast running out of places to stash highly radioactive water from the stricken Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant and may soon be unable to prevent leaks into the ocean.

About 744 tons of water a day was being pumped into the No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3 reactors as of May 22.

Some of that is evaporating into the atmosphere, but most appears to be ending up in pools of radioactive water at the plant.

TEPCO has been trying to contain that water by transferring it to storage areas around the site, but the containers for the No. 2 and No. 3 reactors are expected to reach full capacity in about four and three days, respectively.

As the disaster response teams continue pumping water into the reactors to cool down the fuel rods, water will accumulate in the turbine buildings and trenches around the buildings, raising the risk of further radioactive leaks into the sea.

A total of about 25,000 tons of highly radioactive water has been found in the turbine building and a trench at the No. 2 reactor. In early April, 500 tons (4,700 terabecquerels) leaked into the sea from a work pit near the reactor's water intake.

Twenty-two thousand tons of radioactive water has also accumulated at the No. 3 reactor. A leak of 250 tons (20 terabecquerels) was discovered near its water intake on May 11.

Ten thousand tons (0.15 terabecquerels) of relatively low-level radioactive water was also intentionally discharged into the sea and, by the morning of May 23, 8,676 tons had been transferred to a building within the disposal-and-treatment facility with a capacity of about 10,000 tons. That building is expected to reach full capacity by midnight on May 27.

Water at the No. 3 reactor is being transferred to a different building at the disposal-and-treatment facility with a capacity of about 4,000 tons. By the morning of May 23, 2,660 tons of water had been transferred. Full capacity was expected to be reached in three days.

The "megafloat," a huge floating structure that arrived at the nuclear plant May 21, has a capacity of about 10,000 tons, but can only store water with relatively low radioactivity levels.

To avoid the continual accumulation of water, the team at Fukushima is trying to put in place a purification system that would allow them to clean water pumped into the reactors and reuse it. However, that facility is not expected to be completed until mid-June.

Extra makeshift storage tanks for the radioactive water are expected to be installed in July at the earliest.
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