nuclear-news

Radiation rise forces Japan to halt Fukushima water clean-up

Japan nuclear: Radiation halts water clean-up, The radioactive water will be temporarily stored in special tanks when it is removed from the site, BBC News 18 June 11 Operators of Japan’s Fukushima nuclear plant have suspended an operation to clean contaminated water hours after it began due to a rapid rise in radiation.

Some 110,000 tonnes of water have built up during efforts to cool reactors hit by the 11 March earthquake and tsunami. The contaminated water, enough to fill 40 Olympic-sized swimming pools, has been at risk of spilling into the sea.

A spokesman for the plant operators said engineers were trying to find the cause of the jump in radiation levels.

“The level of radiation at a machine to absorb caesium has risen faster than our initial projections,” a spokesman for the Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco) said. Earlier this week, officials had warned that the growing pools of radioactive water at the Fukushima Daiichi plant were in danger of spilling into the sea within a week….http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-13819767

June 19, 2011 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | - Fukushima 2011