– Hundreds of tons of radioactive water now being intentionally dumped into Pacific at Fukushima plant — Tepco: “We’d like to express our sincere appreciation” — Nuclear water stored since last year to be dumped next week — Official: Tepco “utterly inept” at taking accurate radiation readings (VIDEO) (ENENews, May 21, 2014):
Tepco, May 21, 2014: Today, we have commenced operation of the groundwater bypass at Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station. We would like to express our sincere appreciation to many parties, including Fukushima Prefecture and members of the fishing industry […]
Yahoo News, May 21, 2014: Wednesday [TEPCO] began to dump controlled quantities of water with low radioactivity into the sea. This is the method it plans to start using to reduce the alarming accumulation of contaminated liquid […] TEPCO revealed that around 560,000 litres [~148,000 gallons] of water was emptied Wednesday.
Japan Times, May 21, 2014: [Tepco] said Wednesday it began dumping into the Pacific Ocean hundreds of tons of groundwater […] The next release is expected to involve about 790 tons of groundwater stored since last year […] the official said there could be a water discharge roughly every week.
The Australian, May 21, 2014: Nuclear water released into sea off Japan […] not clear whether the water was more radioactive than normal
Xinhua, May 21, 2014: [Tepco] has also been slammed by Nuclear Regulation Authority Chairman Shunichi Tanaka for incorrectly measuring levels of radioactive materials in groundwater […] Tanaka has said that even though three years has passed since the reactor meltdowns at the plant, TEPCO is still “utterly inept” when it comes to taking accurate readings […] and “lacks a basic understanding of measuring and handling radiation.” […] A spokesperson for the utility said the massive error [measuring strontium-90] was due to a “calibration error” […] He added that other machines had also been mistakingly calibrated […]
Kyodo, May 21, 2014: The official said the amount of water seeping into the reactor buildings may be reduced by up to 80 tons per day [out of the 400 tons per day of contaminated water that flows into the Pacific], but added that the effect of the groundwater bypass system needs to be checked through actual operation.