Fukushima radioactive water leak warning now hiked to level three
23 Aug 2013 5:10 AM IST
In a sudden escalation of the crisis at the Fukushima nuclear plant, the Japanese nuclear watchdog has announced that it is raising the danger level of the radioactive water leak.
After 300 tons of highly radioactive water was found spreading near the storage tanks in the plant, the government had declared that it was a level 1 incident - called an 'anomaly' - on the International Nuclear Event Scale (INES). Now it will be raised to level 3 which is called a ‘serious incident’, a spokesperson for Japan's Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA)said, according to Reuters.
That will mark the first time Japan has issued a warning on the International Nuclear Event Scale (INES) since three reactor meltdowns after the massive quake in March 2011.
A maximum level 7 was declared at the battered plant after explosions led to a loss of power and cooling two years ago, confirming Fukushima as the worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl a quarter of a century earlier. Contaminated water with dangerously high levels of radiation is leaking from a storage tank at Fukushima, the plant's operator, Tokyo Electric Power Co said on Tuesday.
The leak, which has not been plugged, is so contaminated that a person standing 50 cm (1.6 feet) away would, within an hour, receive a radiation dose five times the average annual global limit for nuclear workers.
After 300 tons of highly radioactive water was found spreading near the storage tanks in the plant, the government had declared that it was a level 1 incident - called an 'anomaly' - on the International Nuclear Event Scale (INES). Now it will be raised to level 3 which is called a ‘serious incident’, a spokesperson for Japan's Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA)said, according to Reuters.
That will mark the first time Japan has issued a warning on the International Nuclear Event Scale (INES) since three reactor meltdowns after the massive quake in March 2011.
A maximum level 7 was declared at the battered plant after explosions led to a loss of power and cooling two years ago, confirming Fukushima as the worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl a quarter of a century earlier. Contaminated water with dangerously high levels of radiation is leaking from a storage tank at Fukushima, the plant's operator, Tokyo Electric Power Co said on Tuesday.
The leak, which has not been plugged, is so contaminated that a person standing 50 cm (1.6 feet) away would, within an hour, receive a radiation dose five times the average annual global limit for nuclear workers.
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