tepco says more radioactive water leaks at fukushima plant - business week

2
Like Bloomberg Businessweek Go To Businessweek.com Bloomberg Tepco Says More Radioactive Water Leaks at Fukushima Plant December 05, 2011, 4:15 PM EST 25 0 Business Exchange E-mail Print By Tsuyoshi Inajima (Updates with company comment in fifth paragraph.) Dec. 5 (Bloomberg) -- As much as 45,000 liters (11,870 gallons) of highly radioactive water leaked from Japan’s crippled Fukushima nuclear station at the weekend and some may have reached the sea, Tokyo Electric Power Co. said. The leakage shows the company known as Tepco is still struggling to control the disaster nine months after an earthquake and tsunami wrecked the plant. The water contained 1.8 millisieverts per hour of gamma radiation and 110 millisieverts of beta radiation, Tepco said in an e-mailed statement yesterday. “The source of the beta r adiation in the water i s likely to i nclu de strontium 90, which if absorbed in the body throug h eating tainted seaweed or fish, accumu lates in bone and can ca use cancer,” said Tetsuo Ito, the head of Kinki University’s Atom ic Energy Research Institute. Since the March 11 disaster, the utility has reported several leaks of radiated water into the sea, thoug h its es timates of their size have been dispu ted. In October, a French nucl ear research i nstitute said the Fukushima plant was responsible for the biggest discharge of radioactive material into the ocean in history. The water leaked from a desalination unit and through a cracked concrete wall into a gutter that drains into the Pacific Ocean, spokeswoman Chie Hosoda said by phone. Radiated water has now been pumped out of the building where it was leaking from. Environmental Checks As much as 300 liters leaked through the crack, Junichi Matsumoto, a general manager at the utility, told reporters in Tokyo today. The utility is still checking how much contaminated water has reached the sea and the effects on the environment, Matsumoto said. T epco said the leaked water contained 16,000 becquerels and 29,000 becquerels per liter of radioacti ve ces ium 134 and 137 res pectively. Th ose levels exceed government safety limits by 267 and 322 times, ac cording to Bloomb erg calculations. The water may have contained one million times times as much radioactive strontium as the government limit, the Asahi newspaper reported today. Matsumoto said Tepco may take three weeks to analyze the strontium level in the water. The study by the French government-fun ded Institute for Radiolog ical Protect ion and Nuclear Safety said radioactive cesium that flowed into the sea from the Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear plant was 20 times the amount estimated by Tepco. Prolonged exposure to high levels of radiation can cause leukemia and other forms of cancer, according to the World Nuclear Association. --Editors: Aaron Shel drick, Peter Langan To contact the reporter on this story: Tsuyoshi Inajima in Tokyo at [email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story: Peter Langan at [email protected] 25 0 Business Exchange E-mail Print READER DISCUSSI ON Real-time updating is paused. (Resume) Showing 4 comments 16 Recommend Share Share 16 Recommend Login Add New Comment Ha ! There is nothing you can do Chernoble has already effected Alaska Cancer patients are like a revolving door in FBKS, You would not believe the increase in Cancer here in Alaska... Tuesday December 6, 2011 Get our new FREE iPad app now T epco Say s More Radioac tive W ater Leaks at Fu ku sh ima Plan t - Bu sin... h tt p://www.bu sine ssweek .com /news/2011-1 2-05/tep co-say s-more-radi... 1 av 2 2011-12-06 23:42

Upload: t2p22

Post on 06-Apr-2018

217 views

Category:

Documents


0 download

TRANSCRIPT

8/3/2019 Tepco Says More Radioactive Water Leaks at Fukushima Plant - Business Week

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/tepco-says-more-radioactive-water-leaks-at-fukushima-plant-business-week 1/2

Like

Bloomberg BusinessweekGo To Businessweek.com

Bloomberg

Tepco Says More Radioactive Water Leaks at Fukushima PlantDecember 05, 2011, 4:15 PM EST

25

0

Business ExchangeE-mailPrint

By Tsuyoshi Inajima

(Updates with company comment in fifth paragraph.)

Dec. 5 (Bloomberg) -- As much as 45,000 liters (11,870 gallons) of highly radioactive water leaked from Japan’s crippled Fukushima nuclear station at the

weekend and some may have reached the sea, Tokyo Electric Power Co. said.

The leakage shows the company known as Tepco is still struggling to control the disaster nine months after an earthquake and tsunami wrecked the plant. The

water contained 1.8 millisieverts per hour of gamma radiation and 110 millisieverts of beta radiation, Tepco said in an e-mailed statement yesterday.

“The source of the beta radiation in the water is likely to include strontium 90, which if absorbed in the body through eating tainted seaweed or fish,

accumulates in bone and can cause cancer,” said Tetsuo Ito, the head of Kinki University’s Atomic Energy Research Institute.

Since the March 11 disaster, the utility has reported several leaks of radiated water into the sea, though its es timates of their size have been disputed. In

October, a French nuclear research institute said the Fukushima plant was responsible for the biggest discharge of radioactive material into the ocean in

history.

The water leaked from a desalination unit and through a cracked concrete wall into a gutter that drains into the Pacific Ocean, spokeswoman Chie Hosoda

said by phone. Radiated water has now been pumped out of the building where it was leaking from.

Environmental Checks

As much as 300 liters leaked through the crack, Junichi Matsumoto, a general manager at the utility, told reporters in Tokyo today. The utility is still checking

how much contaminated water has reached the sea and the effects on the environment, Matsumoto said.

Tepco said the leaked water contained 16,000 becquerels and 29,000 becquerels per liter of radioactive ces ium 134 and 137 respectively. Those levelsexceed government safety limits by 267 and 322 times, according to Bloomberg calculations.

The water may have contained one million times times as much radioactive strontium as the government limit, the Asahi newspaper reported today.

Matsumoto said Tepco may take three weeks to analyze the strontium level in the water.

The study by the French government-funded Institute for Radiological Protect ion and Nuclear Safety said radioactive cesium that flowed into the sea from the

Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear plant was 20 times the amount estimated by Tepco.

Prolonged exposure to high levels of radiation can cause leukemia and other forms of cancer, according to the World Nuclear Association.

--Editors: Aaron Sheldrick, Peter Langan

To contact the reporter on this story: Tsuyoshi Inajima in Tokyo at [email protected]

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Peter Langan at [email protected]

25

0

Business ExchangeE-mailPrint

READER DISCUSSION

Real-time updating is paused. (Resume)

Showing 4 comments

16Recommend

ShareShare

16Recommend

LoginAdd New Comment

Ha ! There is nothing you can do Chernoble has already effected Alaska Cancer patients are like a revolving door in FBKS, You would not believe the increase in Cancer here in Alaska...

Tuesday December 6, 2011

Get our new FREE iPad app now

co Says More Radioactive Water Leaks at Fukushima Plant - Busin... http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-12-05/tepco-says-more-radi...

2 2011-12-06 23:42

8/3/2019 Tepco Says More Radioactive Water Leaks at Fukushima Plant - Business Week

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/tepco-says-more-radioactive-water-leaks-at-fukushima-plant-business-week 2/2

M Subscribe by email S RSS

About Advertising Custom Publishing EDGE Programs Reprints Terms of Use Disclaimer Privacy Notice Ethics Code Contact Us Site Map

©2011 BLOOMBERG L.P. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. MADE IN NYC

Japanese government has been known being controlled by her conglomerates / big corporations. One fiasco after another with careless of neighbourhood. The board / senior / reguratory officials should be fired!

Who's fighting for the right of the commoners?

we know that does not happen in the US, no corruption at all!

Common people have no money, thus nobody defends them. Corporations are people, not "Commoners". Welcome to the future, here's your Iodine pill...

co Says More Radioactive Water Leaks at Fukushima Plant - Busin... http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-12-05/tepco-says-more-radi...

2 2011-12-06 23:42