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19th February 2021 - Water leaks indicate new damage at Fukushima nuclear plant

Extract:

Cooling water levels have fallen in two reactors at the wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant since a powerful earthquake hit the area last weekend, indicating possible additional damage, its operator said Friday.

Tokyo Electric Power Co. spokesman Keisuke Matsuo said the drop in water levels in the Unit 1 and 3 reactors indicates that the existing damage to their primary containment chambers was worsened by Saturday’s magnitude 7.3 quake, allowing more water to leak.

Meanwhile, the Tokyo High Court on Friday held the government as well as TEPCO accountable for the 2011 nuclear disaster, ordering both to pay about 280 million yen ($2.6 million) in compensation to more than 40 plaintiffs forced to evacuate to Chiba, near Tokyo, for their lost livelihoods and homes.

Comment:

After nearly ten years the government and TEPCO have been found accountable. The victims are still suffering, and the disaster is ongoing! In my opinion, that is extremely poor compensation for all the pain and suffering those people have been through, because of this disaster. Plus there are still large numbers of victims who have not been compensated at all!

https://apnews.com/article/water-leaks-f...ff9fed5ffe

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This will only add to the problem of contaminated water and how soon they'll have to start dumping it.  Ongoing disaster likely to get worse for the Pacific.

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http://hisz.rsoe.hu/alertmap/database/?p...-73233-JPN

Quote:Cooling water levels have fallen in two reactors at the wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant since a powerful earthquake hit the area last weekend, indicating possible additional damage, its operator said Friday.New damage could further complicate the plant's already difficult decommissioning process, which is expected to take decades.Tokyo Electric Power Co. spokesman Keisuke Matsuo said the drop in water levels in the Unit 1 and 3 reactors indicates that the existing damage to their primary containment chambers was worsened by Saturday's magnitude 7.3 quake, allowing more water to leak.The leaked water is believed to have remained inside the reactor buildings and there is no sign of any outside impact, he said.
In 2011, a powerful magnitude 9.1 earthquake and tsunami damaged the Fukushima plant's cooling systems, causing three reactor cores to melt and nuclear fuel to fall to the bottom of their primary containment vessels.TEPCO will monitor the water and temperatures at the bottom of the containment vessels, Matsuo said.Since the 2011 disaster, cooling water has been escaping constantly from the damaged primary containment vessels into the basements of the reactor buildings. To make up for the loss, additional cooling water has been pumped into the reactors to cool the melted fuel remaining inside them. The recent decline in the water levels indicates that more water than before is leaking out, TEPCO said.More than 180 people received mostly minor injuries from Saturday's earthquake, according to the Fire and Disaster Management Agency. The quake also triggered landslides, damaged homes and a high-speed train line, and caused widespread power and water supply disruptions.TEPCO initially reported that there was no abnormality at the plant from Saturday's quake.Matsuo said the cooling water level fell as much as 70 centimetres (27 inches) in the primary containment chamber of the Unit 1 reactor and about 30 centimetres (11 inches) in Unit 3. TEPCO wasn't able to determine any decline in Unit 2 because indicators have been taken out to prepare for the removal of melted debris, it said.
Increased leakage could require more cooling water to be pumped into the reactors, which would result in more contaminated water that is treated and stored in huge tanks at the plant. TEPCO says its storage capacity of 1.37 million tons will be full next summer. A government panel's recommendation that it be gradually released into the sea has faced fierce opposition from local residents and a decision is still pending.

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Japan - Fish contaminated with radiation caught off northeastern Fukushima Prefecture
https://rsoe-edis.org/eventList/details/33067/0

Quote:Radioactive cesium five times above permitted levels in Japan has been detected in black rockfish caught in northeastern Fukushima Prefecture, according to a Feb. 22 announcement by a local fishing association. Some 500 becquerels per kilogram of cesium was found in black rockfish caught at a depth of 24 meters about 8.8 kilometers off the town of Shinchi, exceeding the national standard level of 100 becquerels per kilogram. The Fukushima Prefectural Federation of Fisheries Co-operative Associations has since halted distribution of the fish until it can confirm their safety. The voluntary suspension of seafood shipments by the fishing body marks the first time since October 2019, when 53 becquerels per kilogram of radioactive cesium was detected in a white sea perch, exceeding the standard level set by the group at 50 becquerels per kilogram. The fishing association has been conducting test fishing since June 2012 on a limited scale. After shipping restrictions on common skate were lifted in February 2020, shipment of all fish was permitted. The fishing body aims to resume full fishing operations in April. (Japanese original by Hideyuki Kakinuma, Fukushima Bureau)