– Japan TV: ‘Problem on their hands’ at Fukushima, constant flow of water pouring from foot-wide leak at Reactor 3; “They don’t know where water it’s coming from” — WSJ: Radiation level spikes 60-fold in seconds nearby (VIDEO) (ENENEws, Jan 18, 2014):
Wall St. Journal, Jan. 17, 2014: As the bus carrying reporters [taking part in a media tour on Jan. 15] drove past by unit 3 toward units 1 and 2, readings on a dosimeter carried by an employee of plant operator [Tepco] spiked at over 600 microsieverts per hour, compared with a reading of around 10 microsieverts just seconds earlier. Reactors 1-3 are so highly contaminated that no one, even in a protective suit, can enter the buildings. That means almost all the cleanup work at the three units will have to be undertaken by remote-controlled robots.
NHK Newsline (Transcript), Jan. 18, 2014: The people in charge of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant have another problem on their hands. They say they found water pouring into a drain inside a reactor building. Officials at [Tepco] say they don’t know where the water is coming from and their not sure how much radioactivity it contains.
NHK, Jan. 18, 2014: Water leak found inside Fukushima reactor building […] spotted on the first floor of the reactor building on Saturday by a camera […] the water flow was about 30-centimeters wide [11.8 inches] and constant. TEPCO added that the water is likely flowing toward the building’s basement where a large amount of radioactive water has accumulated. TEPCO says that inside the reactor building there is water for cooling melted fuel and water in the spent fuel storage pool. It says rain water may have entered the damaged building. TEPCO is trying to find out the source of the leaking water by analyzing footage […] radiation levels are too high for workers to approach the site.
Kyodo News, Jan. 18, 2014: Water leakage found inside No. 3 reactor of Fukushima plant: TEPCO […] Water that could contain radioactive material has been pouring [from a] 30-centimeter wide water leak […] It said the water had not leaked outside the building. TEPCO has been pouring cooling water on the No. 1 to 3 reactors to cool melted fuel, and water has been seen leaking through damaged parts of the No. 3 reactor’s containment vessel. […]