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17 Oct, 2013

Tepco’s toxic water failures pitiful: NRA | The Japan Times

Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s efforts to keep radioactive water at its stricken Fukushima No. 1 power station from spilling into the sea have been ineffective, according to the Nuclear Regulation Authority.

“Our conclusion is that little effect has been seen” in Tepco’s measures, NRA Commissioner Toyoshi Fuketa said at an NRA panel meeting Tuesday, citing an increase in the levels of radioactive materials in some seawater samples collected near the plant.

Tepco is pumping up groundwater and has injected a water-stopping agent into the ground near the plant’s port in order to curb the flow of radioactive groundwater into the sea.

Despite such efforts, the levels of cesium-137 in seawater samples collected between the water intakes for reactors 1 and 2 inside the port rose to around 100 becquerels per liter this month from around 10 becquerels between late June and early July.

Read the rest: Tepco’s toxic water failures pitiful: NRA | The Japan Times.