02/04 TEPCO to release radioactive water into Pacific

TEPCO to release radioactive water into Pacific

In this photo taken on Thursday, March 31, 2011 by Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force and released by Japan Defense Ministry Friday, April 1, JMSDF personnel all in protective suits are aboard a tugboat towing a U.S. military barge carrying pure water towards the quay of the tsunami-stricken Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear complex in Okumamachi, Fukushima Prefecture, northeastern Japan. (AP Photo/Japan Defense Ministry)

TOKYO (Kyodo) -- Tokyo Electric Power Co., the operator of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station, said Monday that it plans to release water containing radioactive materials into the sea in a bid to help speed up work to bring the crippled complex under control.

The total amount of water to be released will be 11,500 tons and the concentration of contaminants in the waste water is estimated at about 100 times the legal limit, which is deemed as a relatively low level, it said.

In this Saturday, April 2, 2011 photo released by Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO), leaking radioactive contaminated water drain through crack of a maintenance pit, right, into the sea, near the Unit 2 reactor of Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear nuclear power plant in Okumamachi, Fukushima Prefecture, northeastern Japan.(AP Photo/Tokyo Electric Power Co.)

The company suggested it will start releasing the water later on Monday at the earliest, with an official saying the utility will do so "as soon as we are ready."

The company said it plans to release 10,000 tons of water being kept in a plant facility and 1,500 tons of underground water, also found to be contaminated with radioactive substances, near the Nos. 5 and 6 reactors.

In this Saturday, April 2, 2011 photo released by Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO), the inside view of the maintenance pit of Unit 2 reactor, where highly radioactive water spilled into the sea through a crack, is photographed before pouring concrete into it to keep from further leas, at Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant in Okumamachi, Fukushima Prefecture, northeastern Japan. (AP Photo/Tokyo Electric Power Co.)

The utility announced the plan as it struggles to find locations to transfer contaminated water to from many parts of the plant on the Pacific coast, such as underground rooms of the turbine buildings. The water has prevented workers from dealing with problems at the plant due to its radioactivity.

(Mainichi Japan) April 4, 2011