Published: March 27 2011 19:57 | Last updated: March 27 2011 23:24
Extremely high levels of radioactivity have been detected in a building beside the No 2 reactor at Japan’s stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.
The discovery raises concerns of a fresh obstacle to efforts to stabilise the crisis after it emerged that the No 3 reactor was not likely to have been breached, as feared earlier.
Efforts to repair the cooling systems at the No 2 and No 3 reactors are being delayed by the need to drain radioactive water from the floors, Tokyo Electric Power Co (Tepco), the plant’s owner, said.
Workers were ordered out of the No 2 reactor building on Sunday after radiation 100,000 times the normal level was detected in water in the turbine housing unit. The level of radioactivity of the surface of the water was more than 1,000 millisieverts (mSv).
The latest data indicate that the Japanese government and Tepco continue to face severe challenges in trying to contain leaks of radioactive substances and stabilise the reactors more than two weeks after a huge earthquake and tsunami devastated the area.
Tepco said it did not know why the water had such high radiation levels but could not rule out broken fuel rods.
Naoto Shimomura, a Tokyo university professor, said the high levels were likely to pose a big obstacle to efforts to contain the leaking of radioactive substances outside the plant.
Tepco said the water would have to be drained before work to restart the internal cooling systems could be carried out.
Meanwhile, the Nuclear Industry Safety Agency (Nisa) of Japan said the level of radioactive iodine in sea water off the Fukushima coast near reactor No 3 had risen to 1,850 times the legally permissible level.
Monitoring by Nisa and Tepco showed that the level of iodine-131 had risen again after falling on Saturday to 750 times the legally permissible level .
Japan’s Nuclear Industry Safety Agency also said on Sunday that the level of radioactive iodine in the seawater off the Fukushima coast near reactor No 3 had risen to 1,850 times the legally permissible level.
Yukio Edano, chief cabinet secretary, said in a televised interview on Sunday morning that “a level of progress has been made in preventing the condition from worsening” at the nuclear plant. “In the face of tremendous difficulty, we are working . . . to improve the situation, step by step,” he said.
It was clear water that could have been inside the No 3 reactor had leaked, he said, but the reactor itself did not appear to have been breached. He added “the possibility is low” that the high level of iodine-131 in the sea water would harm marine life, since it would be diluted by the vast amount of water in the ocean. “Unfortunately, it seems there is no question that water which could have been inside the reactor is leaking,” said Mr Edano.
Fears about the escape of radioactive material from the plant were heightened on Saturday when Nisa said levels of iodine-131 in nearby sea water were 1,250 times normal, based on tests carried out on Friday
Trace amounts of radioactive iodine linked to the plant have turned up in rainwater samples as far away as Massachusetts during the past week, state officials said on Sunday.
On Saturday, China said it had detected traces of radiation from the plant at the north-eastern tip of the country.
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2011. You may share using our article tools. Please don't cut articles from FT.com and redistribute by email or post to the web.
The discovery raises concerns of a fresh obstacle to efforts to stabilise the crisis after it emerged that the No 3 reactor was not likely to have been breached, as feared earlier.
Efforts to repair the cooling systems at the No 2 and No 3 reactors are being delayed by the need to drain radioactive water from the floors, Tokyo Electric Power Co (Tepco), the plant’s owner, said.
Workers were ordered out of the No 2 reactor building on Sunday after radiation 100,000 times the normal level was detected in water in the turbine housing unit. The level of radioactivity of the surface of the water was more than 1,000 millisieverts (mSv).
The latest data indicate that the Japanese government and Tepco continue to face severe challenges in trying to contain leaks of radioactive substances and stabilise the reactors more than two weeks after a huge earthquake and tsunami devastated the area.
Tepco said it did not know why the water had such high radiation levels but could not rule out broken fuel rods.
Naoto Shimomura, a Tokyo university professor, said the high levels were likely to pose a big obstacle to efforts to contain the leaking of radioactive substances outside the plant.
Tepco said the water would have to be drained before work to restart the internal cooling systems could be carried out.
Meanwhile, the Nuclear Industry Safety Agency (Nisa) of Japan said the level of radioactive iodine in sea water off the Fukushima coast near reactor No 3 had risen to 1,850 times the legally permissible level.
Monitoring by Nisa and Tepco showed that the level of iodine-131 had risen again after falling on Saturday to 750 times the legally permissible level .
Japan’s Nuclear Industry Safety Agency also said on Sunday that the level of radioactive iodine in the seawater off the Fukushima coast near reactor No 3 had risen to 1,850 times the legally permissible level.
Yukio Edano, chief cabinet secretary, said in a televised interview on Sunday morning that “a level of progress has been made in preventing the condition from worsening” at the nuclear plant. “In the face of tremendous difficulty, we are working . . . to improve the situation, step by step,” he said.
It was clear water that could have been inside the No 3 reactor had leaked, he said, but the reactor itself did not appear to have been breached. He added “the possibility is low” that the high level of iodine-131 in the sea water would harm marine life, since it would be diluted by the vast amount of water in the ocean. “Unfortunately, it seems there is no question that water which could have been inside the reactor is leaking,” said Mr Edano.
Fears about the escape of radioactive material from the plant were heightened on Saturday when Nisa said levels of iodine-131 in nearby sea water were 1,250 times normal, based on tests carried out on Friday
Trace amounts of radioactive iodine linked to the plant have turned up in rainwater samples as far away as Massachusetts during the past week, state officials said on Sunday.
On Saturday, China said it had detected traces of radiation from the plant at the north-eastern tip of the country.
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2011. You may share using our article tools. Please don't cut articles from FT.com and redistribute by email or post to the web.
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