Japan Formally Raises Fukushima Water Leak to INES Level 3 Incident

[Hissyspit]

Source: Reuters

Japan formally raises Fukushima water leak to INES Level 3 incident

Tue Aug 27, 2013 11:13pm EDT

TOKYO, Aug 28 (Reuters) - Japan's nuclear regulator said on Wednesday it has officially raised the severity rating of the latest radioactive water leak at the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant to Level 3 on an international scale for radiological releases.

The upgrade by Japan's Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) raises the rating of what was Japan's first warning on the International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale (INES) since the three reactor meltdowns at the Fukushima plant in March 2011, which were triggered by a massive earthquake and tsunami. Those meltdowns were classified as Level 7, the highest INES rating.

The plant's operator, Tokyo Electric Power Co, said last week that 300 tonnes of highly radioactive water leaked from a storage tank at the facility. The utility still does not know how long the water may have been leaking and said it was possible the contaminated water may have reached the Pacific Ocean.

The NRA had said last week that it may upgrade the severity of the crisis from a Level 1 "anomaly" to a Level 3 "serious incident" on the INES scale, after consultations with the International Atomic Energy Agency.


Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUST9N0F304B20130828

[AsahinaKimi]

1. Serious and a half...

at least. Now, Japan, ask for help. There is no shame in asking for help.
[font color="red" size="7" face="face"]Tasuke o motomeru, Nihon o shite kudasai[/font]

[davidpdx]

2. They certainly need to not only for their own people, but the entire world

If this gets worse they may set the dubious record of having two level 7 incidents at the same plant. I believe the water leakage in the tanks is somewhat separate from the meltdown itself.

Who knows for sure how much damage is being done to the ocean. Everyone has probably seen the three-eyed fish on the Simpsons that was a result of Mr. Burns nuclear plant. The deformities in humans and other living things may be more realistic than we think.

[appleannie1]

3. A radioactive blue fin tuna was caught off the California coast a couple days ago from this leak.

http://samuel-warde.com/2013/08/radioactive-bluefin-tuna-caught-off-california-coast/

[ConcernedCanuk]

5. If you wish to create interest - put a snip or two in

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Us internet people tend to be lazy - won't even clik on a link many times.

From your link:

"Every bluefin tuna tested in the waters off California has shown to be contaminated with radiation that originated in Fukushima. Every single one.

Over a year ago, in May of 2012, the Wall Street Journal reported on a Stanford University study. Daniel Madigan, a marine ecologist who led the study, was quoted as saying, “The tuna packaged it up (the radiation) and brought it across the world’s largest ocean. We were definitely surprised to see it at all and even more surprised to see it in every one we measured.”

Another member of the study group, Marine biologist Nicholas Fisher at Stony Brook University in New York State reported, “We found that absolutely every one of them had comparable concentrations of cesium 134 and cesium 137.”

That was over a year ago. The fish that were tested had relatively little exposure to the radioactive waste being dumped into the ocean following the nuclear melt-through that occurred at the Fukushima Daiichi plant in March of 2011. Since that time, the flow of radioactive contaminants dumping into the ocean has continued unabated. Fish arriving at this juncture have been swimming in contaminants for all of their lives."
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This problem surfaced over a year ago!

And yet, I get slammed by some posters who declare nuclear as one of the safest forms of energy.

Time to rethink that.

CC

[NealK]

4. This is scary.