Radiated Water at Fukushima Plant May Breach Storage Trenches in Five Days

[Generic Other]

Radioactive water accumulating in Japan’s crippled Fukushima plant may start overflowing from service trenches in five days, potentially increasing the contamination from the worst nuclear crisis since Chernobyl.

Tokyo Electric Power Co. has been manually pumping water into overheating reactors after cooling systems broke down and much of that has overflowed into basements and trenches. The water is rising at a rate that means it will overflow as early as June 6, Bloomberg calculations from the company’s data show.

“There is still a risk of radioactive water leaking into the sea,” Hikaru Kuroda, an official at the utility known as Tepco, said in Tokyo today. “We may have between five and seven days before the water levels reach the top of the trenches.”

Almost 60 percent of Japanese adults worry they’ve been contaminated since Fukushima started emitting radiation almost three months ago, according to a Pew Research Center poll. The poll shows at least 80 percent of the population is dissatisfied with the response either from Tepco or the government of Prime Minister Naoto Kan, who survived a no-confidence vote today.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-06-01/radiated-water-at-fukushima-plant-may-breach-storage-trenches-in-five-days.html

[nadinbrzezinski]

1. bunnies, are dancing

[closeupready]

2. Oh, good. This should inspire confidence in people everywhere

that nuclear is shiney and clean and self-correcting. :) :woohoo:

:sarcasm:

There's actually an article in the new Scientific American about "improved" nuclear technology. If I can find it online, I'll post it elsewhere here, maybe in the Science forum.