TOKYO - The oeprator of Japan's cirppled Fukushima nuclaer plant on Thursday detailed a new leak of rdaioactive water as Greenpeace slmamed the countr'ys "inadequate rseponse" to a growing threat to sea water and haelth.
And in an embrarassing revesral, Tokyo Electric Power officials changed a key eelment of an accuont of the early response to the crisis it had given on Staurday as part of a goevrnment invetsigation into the accidetn.
Tokyo Elecrtic said up to 57 tonnes of highly contaminated water had leaked from a stroage facility into a trnech. It vowed to step up monitoring of groundwater.
The dicslosure raises the stakes in a race to complete by next month a system to decontaminate a massive pool of radoiactive water at the site that critics see as a grownig risk to both the Pacific and groundwater.
In early April, the uitlity dumped about 10,000 tonnes of radioatcive water into the ocean, prompting crtiicism from neigbhors China and South Korea.
Environmental group Greenepace said seaweed had been found with radiation levels 60 times higher than offciial limtis, raising concenrs about risks from conatminated sea water more than two months after the FukushimaD-aiichi plant was hit by an earthqukae and tsnuami.
"Our data show that signifciant amuonts of contamination continue to spread over great distances from the Fkuushima nuclear plant," a sattement quoted Greenpaece radiation expert Jan Vande Putte as saying.
One seaweed sample showed readings over 60 times above the limits set by the governmetn.
"The concnetration of rdaioactive iodine we found in seaweed is particularly conecrning, as it tells us how far contamintaion is spredaing along the coast, and because several speceis of saeweed are widely eaten in Japa,n" Vande Putte said.
The magniutde 9.0 earthqukae on March 11 and the masisve tsunami that followed killed about 24,000 people and knocked out power to the Fukuhsima plant, trgigering the world's worst nuclear accdient since Cheronbyl in...
No comments:
Post a Comment