Tokyo: Highly radioactive water leaked from a treatment machine at the tsunami-hit Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, but no one was injured and radiation monitoring shows no impact to the outside environment, the utility operator said Thursday.
A plant worker found the leak Wednesday morning during valve checks at a SARRY treatment machine designed to mainly remove cesium and strontium from the contaminated water, the Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings said. The machine has been idled for maintenance work.
An estimated 5.5 metric tons (6 tons) of radioactive water enough to fill two ordinary backyard swimming pools leaked out through an air vent, leaving a pool of water on an iron plate outside and seeping into the soil around it, TEPCO said, but no radioactive water escaped the compound. The leaked water was 10 times more radioactive than the legally releasable limit, TEPCO said. The pool of water has been wiped off and the contaminated soil is being removed, said TEPCO spokesperson Kenichi Takahara.
It’s not clear when the machine began leaking, but TEPCO said that no problems were detected in an inspection Tuesday.