Japan: Radioactive water not overflowing into Pacific
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Japan's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency said Tuesday that radioactive water from the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant had not been confirmed to have leaked into the Pacific Ocean from the plant's underground drainage system, Xinhua reported.
The agency maintained that water levels at the channels located between 50 and 70 meters from the shore have remained consistent, said Xinhua.
Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO), operator of the radiation-leaking plant, said they have taken preventative measures to ensure water doesn't flow from the plant into the sea.
According to the nuclear safety agency, the utility firm has protected the drainage system with concrete blocks and sandbags.
Today's announcement and preventative measures come after high levels of radiation were detected in a drainage system and damaged reactor buildings whose structural integrity and key cooling functions were damaged by the March 11 magnitude 9.0 earthquake and ensuing tsunami, Xinhua reported.
Japanese government official believed that one priority would be to remove the contaminated water but also stressed the need to pump more water to cool the fuel rods, BBC reported.
"We need to avoid the fuel rods from heating up and drying up. Continuing the cooling is unavoidable... We need to prioritise injecting water," Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano told a news conference, describing the situation at Fukushima as "very grave".
Plutonium has been found in the soil at five places at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station on Monday, Tokyo Electric Power Co.(TEPCO) said.
TEPCO said that plutonium 238, 239 and 240 were detected at the nuclear plant but the density was "equivalent to the density in the soil under normal environmental conditions and therefore poses no major impact on human health."
But a spokesperson for TEPCO said at a press conference that it was "deplorable" that plutonium had escaped, despite the plant's containment measures, according to Xinhua.
TEPCO said that it will continue the radionuclide analysis contained in the soil and strengthen environment monitoring inside the station and surrounding areas.
Japan's nuclear safety agency said it is highly worried about the radioactivity of the plutonium samples detected as plutonium is more toxic than other radioactive substances such as iodine and cesium, Xinhua reported.
Plutonium emits alpha radiation and low-energy x-rays which are easily absorbed by human tissue, Xinhua said.
Roughly 80 percent of the plutonium that enters the bloodstream goes either to the liver, bone or bone marrow, where it is retained for years, damaging tissue nearby and possibly resulting in cancer.
Prime Minister Naoto Kan told a parliament session Tuesday that it the Fukushima nuclear plant crippled by the March 11 quake and tsunami remains "unpredictable" and it is "highly likely" that the plant will eventually be decommissioned.
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