Regulator upgrades nuclear leak at Fukushima to ‘serious incident’
Print Edition
The leak of radiation-contaminated water from the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant has been upgraded to a “serious incident” on an international scale by Japan’s nuclear regulator.
And it castigated the tsunami-wrecked plant’s operator for failing to catch the problem earlier.
The Nuclear Regulation Authority’s latest criticism of Tokyo Electric Power Co came a day after TEPCO acknowledged the 300,000-liter leak probably began nearly six weeks before it was discovered on August 19.
At a meeting with agency officials and experts on Tuesday, TEPCO said radioactivity near the leaky tank and exposure levels among patrol staff started to increase in early July. There is no sign that anyone tried to find the source of that radioactivity before the leak was discovered.
Yesterday, regulatory officials said TEPCO had repeatedly ignored their instructions to improve patrol procedures to reduce the risk of overlooking leakages.
“Their instructions, written or verbal, have never been observed,” Toyoshi Fuketa, a regulatory commissioner, said at the agency’s weekly meeting.
TEPCO acknowledged recently that only two workers were assigned to check all 1,000 storage tanks at the plant during a twice-daily, two-hour walk without carrying dosimeters, which measure exposure to radiation, and their inspection results were not adequately recorded. TEPCO said it will increase patrol staff to 50 from the current eight.
Earlier this week, Japan’s industry minister, Toshimitsu Motegi, said the government will take over cleanup efforts and allocate funding for long-term management projects.
The nuclear authority originally gave a Level 1 preliminary rating — an “anomaly” — to the tank leak. Last week the authority proposed raising that to Level 3 — a “serious incident” — and it made the change after consulting with the International Atomic Energy Agency.
The IAEA’s ratings are designed to inform the international community, and changing them does not affect efforts to clean up the leak by the government and TEPCO. The 2011 Fukushima disaster itself was rated the maximum of Level 7 on the scale, the same as the 1986 Chernobyl accident.
“What’s important is not the number itself but to give a basic idea about the extent of the problem,” authority chairman Shunichi Tanaka said. “I’ve seen reports that this is a dire situation but that’s not true.”
Tanaka said there was a much larger ongoing problem at the plant: massive amounts of contaminated ground water reaching the sea. But that problem cannot even be rated under the IAEA’s International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale because it is unknown exactly how much ground water is escaping, how contaminated it is and what effect it is having on the sea and marine products.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
