An estimated 5,500 liters of radioactive water leaked from Japan’s stricken Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant but no sign of contamination has been detected outside the facility, its operator said yesterday.
A spokeswoman from Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) said that the leak was detected at part of the plant that processes contaminated water.
“We estimate that roughly 5.5 tonnes [5,500 litres] of water leaked” on Wednesday morning, but “there have been no significant changes” at posts monitoring radioactivity around the power station, she said.
Photo Tokyo Electric Power Co via AFP
Even so, TEPCO plans to remove soil from around the area that might have been contaminated, the spokeswoman said, without providing specific details on the location of the leaked water.
The Fukushima plant was wrecked by a huge earthquake and tsunami in 2011 that killed 18,000 people. It was one of the worst nuclear disasters in history.
The clean-up operation is expected to take decades, with the most dangerous part — removing radioactive fuel and rubble from three stricken reactors — yet to begin.
In August last year, Japan began gradually releasing into the Pacific Ocean 1.34 million tonnes of treated wastewater that had collected since the catastrophe, saying it is harmless and heavily diluted with seawater.
This view is backed by the UN atomic watchdog, but China and Russia have criticized the release and banned Japanese seafood imports.
Wednesday’s leak took place at a facility which processes the water before most radioactive elements are filtered out at a different, advanced facility known as ALPS.
TEPCO said the leak from a vent was spotted by a worker who was cleaning the vent before operating the facility.
“Vents should be closed during cleaning, but this time they were open,” the spokeswoman said.
Tropical Storm Usagi strengthened to a typhoon yesterday morning and remains on track to brush past southeastern Taiwan from tomorrow to Sunday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was approximately 950km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost point, the CWA said. It is expected to enter the Bashi Channel and then turn north, moving into waters southeast of Taiwan, it said. The agency said it could issue a sea warning in the early hours of today and a land warning in the afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was moving at
DISCONTENT: The CCP finds positive content about the lives of the Chinese living in Taiwan threatening, as such video could upset people in China, an expert said Chinese spouses of Taiwanese who make videos about their lives in Taiwan have been facing online threats from people in China, a source said yesterday. Some young Chinese spouses of Taiwanese make videos about their lives in Taiwan, often speaking favorably about their living conditions in the nation compared with those in China, the source said. However, the videos have caught the attention of Chinese officials, causing the spouses to come under attack by Beijing’s cyberarmy, they said. “People have been messing with the YouTube channels of these Chinese spouses and have been harassing their family members back in China,”
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said there are four weather systems in the western Pacific, with one likely to strengthen into a tropical storm and pose a threat to Taiwan. The nascent tropical storm would be named Usagi and would be the fourth storm in the western Pacific at the moment, along with Typhoon Yinxing and tropical storms Toraji and Manyi, the CWA said. It would be the first time that four tropical cyclones exist simultaneously in November, it added. Records from the meteorology agency showed that three tropical cyclones existed concurrently in January in 1968, 1991 and 1992.
UPDATED FORECAST: The warning covered areas of Pingtung County and Hengchun Peninsula, while a sea warning covering the southern Taiwan Strait was amended The Central Weather Administration (CWA) at 5:30pm yesterday issued a land warning for Typhoon Usagi as the storm approached Taiwan from the south after passing over the Philippines. As of 5pm, Usagi was 420km south-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost tip, with an average radius of 150km, the CWA said. The land warning covered areas of Pingtung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春), and came with an amended sea warning, updating a warning issued yesterday morning to cover the southern part of the Taiwan Strait. No local governments had announced any class or office closures as of press time last night. The typhoon
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