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TEPCO, operator of the Fukushima nuclear facility, failed to confirm that radiation leaks at the plant had fully stopped. This came after a US report that irradiated fish are still being caught off the coast of Japan following the 2011 meltdown. The Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) told journalists Friday they could not confirm that radiation had stopped leaking from the nuclear power plant struck by a massive earthquake and tsunami in March 2011. Still, they said that radiation levels in the seawater and seabed soil around the plant were declining. A recent article in the academic journal Science revealed that 40 percent of bottom-dwelling marine species in the area show cesium-134 and 137 levels that are still higher than normal. “The numbers aren't going down. Oceans usually cause the concentrations to decrease if the spigot is turned off,” Ken Buesseler, study author and senior scientist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution told the Associated Press. “There has to be somewhere they're picking up the cesium.” “Option one is the seafloor is the source of the continued contamination. The other source could be the reactors themselves,” Buesseler added. Radioactive cesium is a human-made radioactive isotope produced through nuclear fission of the element cesium. It has a half-life of 30 years, making it extremely toxic. TEPCO confirmed that the radioactive water used to cool the plant’s reactors leaked into the ocean several times, most recently in April. The plant is struggling to find space to store the tens of thousands of tons of highly contaminated water used to cool the broken reactors and prevent it from a meltdown. The company managed to collect the water used to cool the spent fuel rods and circulate it back into reactor cores, so the reactors are now being cooled with recycled water. However, groundwater is still seeping through cracks in basement where the reactor and turbine are stored, posing further dangers. With the groundwater seeping in, the volume of decontaminated water collected and stored at the Fukushima Daiichi plant could triple within three years, TEPCO told the AP. The accident at the Fukushima-1 nuclear power plant was triggered by a 9.0-magnitude earthquake that struck northeastern Japan on March 11, 2011. An enormous tsunami crashed onto the land, resulting in the flash-flooding of four of the plant’s six reactors, shattering the cooling system. This led to a series of oxygen blasts, and a partial meltdown of the reactor core. The incident was the biggest nuclear disaster in 25 years since the tragedy at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. Multiple cases of contamination of air and seawater by radioactive material have been reported. Over 140,000 people were forced to leave an evacuation area 40 kilometers in diameter around the plant. Most of those people are still living in shelters. Full management of the disaster, including dismantling the reactors, is expected to take around 40 years.
Originally posted by jerseychannelislands
reply to post by HIWATT
ok then dude. well firstly let me answer your question with a question. if they had been upfront from the get go would we be in the same situation? no im not being a jerk honest question
i dont think much could of been done the only way they could of prevented this would of been not to build it in the first place
Originally posted by HIWATT
What do you have to say about this?
Opinion?
Thoughts?
Anything?
Europe's 'dangerous' nuclear plants need €25bn safety refit
Nuclear "stress tests" carried out at the European Union's 143 atomic reactors have exposed "hundreds" of problems which could need up to €25bn of investment in order to restore proper plant safety levels, a report reveals today. The disturbing safety shortcomings were disclosed in a leaked draft of a report on the state of Europe's atomic power industry, which is due to be published by the European Commission in Brussels today. It was commissioned in the aftermath of last year's nuclear disaster in Japan, when an earthquake and subsequent tsunami led to a meltdown at three of the Fukushima nuclear plant's reactors. The draft, which could differ from the final version of the report, concluded that "on the basis of the stress test results, practically all nuclear plants need to undergo safety improvements". "Hundreds of technical upgrade measures have already been identified," it added. With Europe struggling to shake off its economic woes, the draft report warned that safety precautions differed greatly and that the amount needed to upgrade them ranged from €30m to €200m per reactor unit – or a total of up to €25bn across the EU. It also pointed out that 47 of the EU's plants contained a total of 111 reactors which were surrounded by more than 100,000 inhabitants living within 30km.
Originally posted by HIWATT
reply to post by jerseychannelislands
I don't mean to be a jerk, but we can go look up articles anywhere. This is a discussion forum. Post an article, but if you want people to discuss it, it's your responsibility to kick things off.. and no, "blah blah blah" doesn't count
Originally posted by Destinyone
reply to post by jerseychannelislands
It's been leaking since the earthquake and tsunami first happened. You should read the monster thread here, in the Japan forum. A multitude of issues on leaking radiation have been discussed every which way possible.
Des
Originally posted by LittleBlackEagle
lol @ leaking.
it's not only leaking but the water being used to cool what's left of these reactor cores is being pumped into the ocean on purpose, since they're running out of storage for said water. they have been doing this since day one and it's common knowledge how they started and continue to cool what they can.