Leaking underground storage tanks, an encouraging study on internal radiation doses near the plant and another power outage at a spent fuel pool highlighted the last week's news from Japan.
Developments at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant severely damaged after Japan's 2011 tsunami include:
TEPCO to End Underground Water Storage After Leaks
On Wednesday, Tokyo Electric Power Co. announced it would transfer contaminated water from seven underground tanks to above-ground storage. The Yomiuri Shimbun reported that 23,600 metric tons will be transferred from the first four tanks by early June. The decision follows the discovery of leaks this week in three of the seven underground tanks helping to store massive volumes of irradiated water that represent one of the biggest challenges facing the plant.
Internal Cesium Undetected In 99 Percent of Residents Tested
Researchers have examined the internal radiation exposure of 30,000 people from Fukushima and Ibaraki Prefectures between October of 2011 and November of 2012. The Asahi Shimbun reported this week that the study detected cesium-137 in only 1 percent of the 20,000 people examined since last March. The findings are encouraging, as they ease some earlier fears that food contaminated by the accidents would result in large internal doses.
Another Electrical Problem Briefly Halts Spent Fuel Cooling
As they installed netting on April 5 around power equipment to deter rodents blamed for an earlier outage, TEPCO reported workers likely caused a ground fault that resulted in power being cut to the unit 3 spent fuel pool cooling system. Power was restored after about three hours, according to a TEPCO release, and the spent fuel pool temperature was recorded at a safe 15.2 C.