04/12/2013 18:59
Japan seeks new measures to tackle Fukushima crisis
The government of Japan offered new measures to stop radioactive water leaking from the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant into the sea as TEPCO runs out of storage places for contaminated water, RT reports citing AP. One of the new measures proposed by the panel includes covering the ground with asphalt to reduce rain inflow.
According to experts, the underground water that flows into the reactor and turbine basements is mostly rainwater.
However the panel has not yet developed a specific plan and cannot provide the details including the extent of asphalt coverage, said panel official Yoshiyuki Toyoguchi, RT reports citing AP.
The government also plans to install undersea filters for the contaminated water that is seeping into the Pacific.
Yet, experts warn that a drastical decrease of groundwater could lead to the soil sinking in places where hundreds of storage tanks with highly contaminated water are located. So this possibily should be taken into consideration and prevented.
Scientists also urge the need to deal with the large amounts of tritium – a radioactive isotope – contained in the water.
Meanwhile, some suggest releasing the water in the sea as tritium is a low-energy isotope that is considered to be less dangerous than other isotopes such as cesium and strontium. Experts suggest this isotope will be diluted once it reaches the waters.
“That's more of a policy than a technical decision, but it will require TEPCO and the government to explain the ultimate disposition of the filtered water,” said Dale Klein, former head of US Nuclear Regulatory Commission who now serves as an outside adviser to TEPCO in an interview with AP.
Japan has already placed about 1,000 tanks with over 370,000 tons of contaminated water at the facility, many of which have suffered regular leaks.
In September the government pledged almost $500 million in funding for building an ice dam in the soil around the plant to stop drainage of toxic water into the ocean.
The government also plans to remove removal of thousands of nuclear fuel rods from a cooling pool, which is one of the most dangerous operations ever attempted in nuclear history.