Groundwater radiation level at nuke plant rises: TEPCO
TOKYO, April 15, Kyodo
The concentration levels of radioactive iodine and cesium in groundwater near the troubled Nos. 1 and 2 reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant have increased up to several dozen times in one week, suggesting that toxic water has seeped from nearby reactor turbine buildings or elsewhere, Tokyo Electric Power Co. said Thursday.
The announcement came as the plant operator continued to grapple with pools of highly radioactive water found on the plant's premises, with the level of polluted water filling an underground trench edging up again after the company finished pumping out around 660 tons of water.
The pools of contaminated water are believed to be a side effect of TEPCO's emergency efforts to continue injecting water into the reactors and their spent nuclear fuel pools from outside to cool them down.
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Hidehiko Nishiyama, the agency's spokesman, told a press conference Thursday morning that the rise in the water level is likely linked to the continued injection of water into the No. 2 reactor core, which is necessary to prevent the nuclear fuel inside from overheating.
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The water in and around the No. 2 reactor turbine building is believed to contain higher concentrations of radioactive substances than other contaminated water found at the site, and is believed to originate from the No. 2 reactor's core, where fuel rods have partially melted.
Story here:
http://english.kyodonews.jp/news/2011/04/85532.htmlThe article talks about water in different locations. The first reference is 660 tons. At 8.6 pounds per gallon, that would be about 153,500 gallons.
It also says there are about 20,000 tons of highly radiated water under reactor #2 which is about 4,651,162 gallons of water. (more than 4 1/2 million !)
Maybe part of the reactor and/or spent fuel has melted through the containment?
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