Technicians working tirelessly to rugged central Fukushima discovered Saturday that the highly radioactive water flowed into the ocean from a well cracked, announced the company operating the site.
"Today around 9:30 (0030 GMT), workers have discovered that water from a radioactivity of 1.000 mSv per hour had accumulated in a well" near the sea, an official said Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO).
"They realized that the well was a crack of 20 cm and radioactive water escaped into the sea," he added.
TEPCO intends to plug the crack and perform analysis of the level of radioactivity in seawater, by taking samples near the plant and three locations located 15 kilometers from the site, said spokesperson.
TEPCO announced Thursday that measured in seawater collected at 300 meters south of the central rate of radioiodine 4,385 times the legal limit.
The Japanese authorities make every effort to avert the risk of nuclear catastrophe in Fukushima (northeastern Japan), while continuing radioactive releases that are sustainable and pollution fears of widespread environmental.
To keep the oil at a temperature below the melting point, thousands of tons of water were dumped on the reactors. Consequence of this "wash", huge quantities of contaminated water seeped into the crawl underground and runoff into the Pacific Ocean nearby.
This accumulation of highly radioactive water in the site is very problematic in terms of storage and treatment and severely hindering operations to boost the cooling circuits of the plant.
The situation in Fukushima "remains very serious," said Friday the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
