– Bloomberg: ‘Highly radioactive’ leak at Fukushima Unit 3 — NHK: Melted fuel coolant thought to be flowing from containment vessel for ‘unknown reason’ — 24 Million Bq/liter of strontium, other beta emitters (VIDEO) (ENENews, Jan 20, 2014):
Bloomberg, Jan. 20, 2014: Highly radioactive water was detected inside the No. 3 reactor building at the Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear plant, Tepco said in yesterday’s statement. […] The latest leak threatens to undermine efforts by the company to distance itself from the March 2011 disaster […] Beta radiation levels of 24 million becquerels per liter were detected in the water from the first floor of the reactor building, the company said. The utility in December detected beta radiation levels of 57 million becquerels per liter in water beneath the same unit, [a Tepco spokesman] said. […] Ending radioactive water leaks along with groundwater and ocean contamination at the Fukushima plant may take more than five years, according to a report released by a government advisory body in December.
Asahi Shimbun, Jan. 20, 2014: Radiation levels indicate the leak discovered within the stricken Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant involves water used to cool melted nuclear fuel, [TEPCO] said Jan. 19. “The leaked water is highly likely to have come from the water that was already used to cool fuel rods, and not from leaked rainwater or cooling water (on its way to the reactor),” a TEPCO official said. […] The water sample contained 2.4 million becquerels per liter of radioactive cesium, while the reading for substances emitting beta rays, including strontium, reached 24 million becquerels per liter. […]
NHK, Jan. 19, 2014: [TEPCO] says water leaking in the number 3 reactor building is most likely to have come from the containment vessel […] temperature is approximately 20 degrees Celsius [like] the water at the bottom of the reactor. TEPCO officials suspect the water for cooling melted fuel in the containment vessel is leaking for some unknown reason. They say they will continue their investigation to understand the condition of the melted fuel, as well as that of the containment vessel in their effort to find out how and where the water is leaking.