Reactor may be leaking radioactive substances into the environment
28 Mar 2011
Tokyo: Utility Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO), operator of the Fukushima nuclear park, said Monday that high levels of radiation, exceeding 1,000 millisieverts per hour, were found in water in a trench outside the No 2 reactor's turbine building.
However, it said there is no evidence to suggest that this contaminated water has flowed into the sea though one end of the tunnel-like trench is located just 55 meters from the seashore.
But the same assurances were not given by the utility with regard to a pool of water lying in the basement of the turbine building for the No 2 reactor at the Fukushima Daiichi complex, which too has registered similarly high levels of radioactivity.
In this case there are concerns that radioactive substances may have seeped into the environment, including the sea nearby.
TEPCO confirmed that the level of radiation at a similar trench for the No 1 reactor was 0.4 millisievert per hour, adding that radiation could not be measured at a similar location for the No 3 unit due to difficulty in gaining access.
