11,400,000 Bq/m3 of cesium leaked again, “metal fatigue of a coupler”

 

0.2 m3 of contaminated water leaked again. It contained 11,400,000 Bq/Kg of cesium.
It leaked from a coupler part made of stainless steel. They found it broken. It is presumed that over pressure caused metal fatigue. Tepco is going to check similar parts of other places. (cf. [Reactor3,4] 8 billion Bq/m3 of cesium leaked from contaminated water pipe)

Tepco explains like this below,

Time and day
At around 10:16 AM on August 17, 2012

Location
In the temporary warehouse of the desalination system (Reverse osmosis
membrane) 3

Detail
1. A worker of a cooperative company on patrol found a puddle on the floor as
he entered the temporary warehouse (at 10:16).
2. The desalination system (RO3) was stopped manually (at 10:17) and the
leakage was stopped (at 10:22).

Estimated leakage amount
Approx. 0.2 [m3]

Radiation dose measurement result (surface radiation dose)
γ: 0.1[mSv/h], β: 3 [mSv/h]

 

11,400,000 Bq/m3 of cesium leaked again, "metal fatigue of a coupler"

 

11,400,000 Bq/m3 of cesium leaked again, "metal fatigue of a coupler" 2

 

11,400,000 Bq/m3 of cesium leaked again, "metal fatigue of a coupler" 3

 

11,400,000 Bq/m3 of cesium leaked again, "metal fatigue of a coupler" 4

 

11,400,000 Bq/m3 of cesium leaked again, "metal fatigue of a coupler" 5

 

Source 1 2

 

 

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This website updates the latest news about the Fukushima nuclear plant and also archives the past news from 2011. Because it's always updated and added live, articles, categories and the tags are not necessarily fitted in the latest format.
I am the writer of this website. About page remains in 2014. This is because my memory about 311 was clearer than now, 2023, and I think it can have a historical value. Now I'm living in Romania with 3 cats as an independent data scientist.
Actually, nothing has progressed in the plant since 2011. We still don't even know what is going on inside. They must keep cooling the crippled reactors by water, but additionally groundwater keeps flowing into the reactor buildings from the broken parts. This is why highly contaminated water is always produced more than it can circulate. Tepco is planning to officially discharge this water to the Pacific but Tritium is still remaining in it. They dilute this with seawater so that it is legally safe, but scientifically the same amount of radioactive tritium is contained. They say it is safe to discharge, but none of them have drunk it.

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