220 tons of highly radioactive water leaked and a part of it leaked to the sea

12/4/2011 11:30AM, a sub-contractor worker found highly radioactive water was leaking from water purifying system. It was from the water conversion section.

The worker reported that 45 tons of contaminated water leaked but potentially 220 tons of polluted water had leaked out.

It contains 45,000 Bq/L of cesium, which is 300 times much as some kind of a “safety limit”, and it contains 1 million times much strontium as some kind of a “safety limit”.

As to Strontium, Tepco does not announce the actual amont contained in the water.

The water purifying system can not filter out strontium, which is water soluble.

The tank contains over 10,000 tons in total.

The leaked water flowed into a gutter which is connected to the sea at 500 meters away.

They could not do anything more than put sandbags.

The leaked water is more contaminated than the water that Tepco leaked in April on purpose.

The surface emits 110 mSv/h of beta radiation, mostly from Strontium etc., and 1.8 mSv/h of gamma radiation, mostly from Cesium.

(Source)

(Source)

東京電力は4日、福島第一原発にたまる高濃度放射能汚染水を処理する施設から、水が45トン漏れているのが見つかったと発表した。処理後の水だが基準を大幅に上回る濃度の放射性物質を含み、総量は最大220トンと見積もられ、一部が海に流出した可能性がある。東電は原子炉の冷温停止状態を達成間近としてきたが、一方で復旧作業にはなお手を焼いていることを示している。

漏れた水のセシウム濃度は1リットルあたり4万5千ベクレルで基準の約300倍。ストロンチウムは処理では除去できず、濃度は基準の100万倍ある。原子炉の冷却水を処理して再利用する循環注水冷却システムで起きた水漏れでは過去最大の量。

装置の運転は止めたが、処理後の水がタンクに1万トン以上あるため、原子炉への注水は続けており、東電は「冷温停止には影響しない」としている。

東電によると、4日午前11時半ごろ、下請け企業の作業員が、汚染水を淡水化する装置から水が漏れているのを見つけた。処理水が漏れ出て周囲に45トンたまり、たまった水が床近くのひび割れから外に出て側溝に流れ込んでいるのが確認された。水漏れは土嚢(どのう)でせき止めた。

側溝は約500メートル先で海につながっており、海に漏れたか確認中という。3日午後2時半の時点では漏れがなく、漏れた水の総量は、周辺にたまった45トンも含めて最大で220トンに上る可能性がある。

東電によると、漏れた水の濃度は、4月に意図的に海に放出した低濃度汚染水より高い「中濃度」に該当する。表面の放射線量は、ストロンチウムなど由来のベータ線で毎時110ミリシーベルト、セシウムなど由来のガンマ線で1.8ミリシーベルト。(杉本崇)

About this site

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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