You remember the 2011 tsunami that devastated Japan? Yah! There was Japan’s Fukushima nuclear plant that was affected and has been leaking every now and again. Last week (20 Feb 2014) around 100 tonnes of highly radioactive water is believed to have leaked from a storage tank. It is unsure if this leakage reached the sea. The leak is thought to have occurred after a storage tank overflowed.
In August the previous year, there were leakages from the same plant, with spills of over 300 tonnes of radioactive water.
In October that same year, Tepco reported that there is a radioactive water leak after workers overfill a storage tank
This latest leak has prompted Japan’s nuclear agency to raise the incident’s alert level. The leak had a reading of 230 million becquerels per litre of radioactive isotopes, way over the maximum of 10, recommended by WHO. That a clear and present danger!
Tepco spokesman Masayuki Ono told reporters that they were recovering the leaked water from the area, and luckily, there is no drainage in the area, removing fears that it may have entered the ocean. That would have been a serious water pollution issue. But there is still the issue of soil pollution to be addressed. Of course, soil pollution is as serious an issue as it serves as a medium for infiltration of water into groundwater.