Tepco to dump radioactive water in sea to keep reactors stable

Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco) will dump radioactive water from its crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear station into the sea for the first time as it runs out of space to store fluids used to cool the plant’s six reactors.

The government approved a plan by the utility known as Tepco to release water with low radioactive contamination into the sea to make room for liquids with higher radiation levels, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said. “We didn’t have any other alternatives,” Edano told reporters in Tokyo today. “This is a measure we had to take to secure safety.”

Tepco said it plans to discharge as early as tonight 11,500 tonnes of water containing radioactive iodine levels about 100 times the regulatory limit. Tepco has been battling to stop radiation leaks at the station since the quake and tsunami knocked out the plant’s cooling systems, resulting in a partial meltdown of some of its six reactors.

“Until they get rid of that water they can’t get in there to sort out the pumps,” Robin Grimes, a professor of materials physics at Imperial College in London, said by telephone. “If they’re going against regulatory guidelines, that’s definitely not something you’d want to do unless you had very little choice. It’s the least worst option.”

Filtering radiation from the water would take too long and its release will help protect equipment in the buildings housing the reactors, Tepco spokesman Junichi Matsumoto said today at a news conference streamed over the Internet.

11,500 tonnes of water
Tepco will discharge 10,000 tonnes of water from its waste treatment facility and another 1,500 tonnes accumulated in pits outside reactor Numbers 5 and 6, said Masateru Araki, another company spokesman. This is the first time the utility will intentionally release radioactive water into the sea, he said.

Tepco had been struggling to stop contaminated water from reactor Number 2 from leaking into the ocean through a conduit used to take in sea water.

Tepco initially tried to plug a crack in a power-cable storage pit near the reactor by filling it with concrete on April 2, and yesterday attempted to clog it with a mix of sawdust, newspaper and absorbent polymer used in baby diapers.

The utility plans to build an undersea silt barrier to stop the leak of radioactive fluids and help contain contaminated water within the conduit, Hidehiko Nishiyama, Japan’s spokesman on nuclear safety, said in Tokyo earlier today. 

GE’s Immelt
Tepco and government officials met Jeffrey Immelt, chief executive officer of General Electric Co (GE), to discuss technical support to contain the crisis at the Fukushima reactors that are based on the US company’s design. Fairfield, Connecticut-based GE has offered technical assistance and help since the earthquake and tsunami through its venture with Hitachi (6,501) Immelt met with Tokyo Electric officials including Chairman Tsunehisa Katsumata yesterday and Trade Minister Banri Kaieda today.