The company thinks the tunnels are leaking radioactive materials in the local groundwater

Jan 7, 2014 16:29 GMT  ·  By

Tepco, i.e. the operator of the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan, has announced that it plans to soon start cleaning up underground tunnels at this site.

By the looks of it, the company decided that cleaning up these tunnels might not be such a bad idea after realizing that the tunnels could be leaking radioactive material in the local groundwater.

RT tells us that, in order to make these tunnels spin and span, Tepco must first block the flow of water between them and the nuclear plant's damaged buildings.

Should things go as planned, work on draining the contaminated water that has accumulated in the tunnels will begin sometime in this year's April, the same source tells us.

News of Tepco's plans to clean up underground tunnels at the Fukushima site come shortly after a mysterious Steam was seen coming out of the facility's Reactor No. 3.

According to the nuclear plant's operator, this steam was caused by rainwater that had accumulated inside the edge of the reactor's primary containment vessels, and its presence was nothing to worry about.