14 DAY TRIAL // Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO, for short) is once again making headlines. As has been the case for quite a while now, TEPCO is getting loads of media attention not because it did something good, but because the Fukushima nuclear plant it owns and operates has gone haywire.
Recent news from Japan says that one of the storage tanks at said nuclear facility has leaked roughly 300 tons of contaminated water into its surroundings.
The water is highly radioactive, Live Science reports.
In fact, it appears that, should someone decide to stay close to it for about an hour, that person would be exposed to five times more radiation than nuclear workers are exposed to throughout the course of an entire year.
Presently, TEPCO is clueless about how and why the storage tank started to spill is content.
Engineers and specialists present at the scene suspect the leak was caused by either a faulty seam on the tank or a broken valve on a surrounding gutter, the same source tells us.
By the looks of it, workers are presently doing their best to keep the highly contaminated water from soaking into the ground.
Sandbags have been piled around the leaking storage tanks, and pumps are being used to drain the puddle of radioactive water. The faulty storage tank will also be drained.
Many have thus far voiced their concern that the contaminated water will seep into the Pacific Ocean.
However, TEPCO insists that, since the leaking tank is located about 330 feet (100 meters) from the coastline, there are very little chances that the radioactive water will reach the ocean.
Oddly enough, it has nonetheless agreed to raise the warning about the severity of the leak.
Thus, according to Japan's Nuclear Regulation Authority, the crisis at the Fukushima nuclear plant is no longer listed as an “anomaly.” On the contrary, it is being described as a “serious incident.”
This isn't the first time when the Fukushima nuclear plant gets loads of negative attention.
A few weeks ago, the Nuclear Regulation Authority said that contaminated water that had been leaking since March 2011 had probably reached the Pacific Ocean.
Later on, the Authority argued that the situation was an emergency and demanded that TEPCO deal with it immediately.