The ruined Fukushima nuclear plant leaked radioactive water, but none escaped the facility
Highly radioactive water leaked from the ruined Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Japan, but none escaped the facility, its operator said.
Highly radioactive water leaked from a treatment machine at the tsunami-hit Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, but no one was injured and radiation monitoring shows no impact to the outside environment, the utility operator said Thursday.
A plant worker found the leak Wednesday morning during valve checks at a SARRY treatment machine designed to remove cesium from the contaminated water, the Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco) said. The machine has been idled for maintenance work.
An estimated 6 tons of radioactive water — enough to fill two ordinary backyard swimming pools — leaked out through an air vent, leaving a pool of water on an iron plate outside and seeping into the soil around it, Tepco said, but no radioactive water escaped the compound.
It is not clear when the machine began leaking, but Tepco said that no problems were detected in an inspection Tuesday.
The leak may have been caused by valves accidentally left open while workers flushed the machine with filtered water. Tepco said that 10 of 16 valves that should have been closed were left open during the flushing, and the leak stopped when the valves were closed.
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