‘Absolute Shock’: Nuclear waste on roof of Fukushima reactor flowing directly into Pacific — Kept secret for past year and did nothing to stop it

‘Absolute Shock’: Nuclear waste on roof of Fukushima reactor flowing directly into Pacific — Kept secret for past year and did nothing to stop it — Contamination coming from debris on top of Unit 2; Gundersen: Pressure in reactors got so high “it blew the top off” — “Fallout is far from over… International fury rising” (VIDEO) (ENENews, Feb 25, 2015):

Japan Times, Feb 25, 2015 (emphasis added): Radioactive isotopes [have] been draining into the Pacific from the roof of the No. 2 reactor building, which is highly contaminated…. Meanwhile on Sunday, Tepco reported water contaminated with high levels of radiation was flowing into the ocean at the plant’s port.

Kyodo News, Feb 25, 2015: Highly toxic water leaks into ocean from Fukushima plantHighly radioactive rainwater [is] accumulating on the rooftop of the No. 2 reactor building… In a separate incident… highly contaminated water leaked into the nearby bay through a different gutter… The cause and the amount of water leakage remain unknown.

NBC News, Feb 25, 2015: Radioactive Fukushima Water Leak Was Unreported for Months: Official

Reuters, Feb 25, 2015: [TEPCO said there’s] a pool of highly contaminated water on the roof of [Unit 2 and] believes gravel and blocks laid on the roof of the building are the source of contamination… it plans to remove them by the end of March.

Fairewinds Chief Engineer Arnie Gundersen on WDEV, Feb 24, 2015 (at 30:15 in): “The pressures got so high in the containment, it blew the top off the containment.”

IANS, Feb 25, 2015: [Tepco] announced having detected deposits of highly radioactive water on the roof of the plant’s reactor number 2. The liquid contained 29,400 becquerel per litre of radioactive caesium and 52,000 of strontium and other beta-ray emitting substances… [Tepco] decided against making the findings public until now as it did not have results of the analysis on the accumulated liquid’s radioactivity levels.

Newsweek, Feb 25, 2015: The fallout from the Fukushima disaster is far from over… Local commercial fishermen are reportedly outraged… “I don’t understand why [Tepco] kept silent even though they knew about it. Fishery operators are absolutely shocked,” [said] Masakazu Yabuki, chief of the Iwaki fisheries cooperative… [The] plant has been plagued by a staggering number of accidents.

Xinhua News Agency, Feb 25, 2015: TEPCO blasted for concealing latest radioactive leak for nearly a year — Local fisherman… blamed [TEPCO] for knowingly allowing radioactive substances… to flow freely into the sea since April last year… earlier this year [Prime Minister] Abe’s government announced that TEPCO would be the Main Sponsor for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics… local, national and international fury once again rises at [TEPCO]… [This is] the latest indication that the crisis at the plant is far from under control… Japan’s top government spokesperson reiterated the government’s long-standing mantra… “The situation is completely under controlAny negative impact of radioactive water on the environment is completely blocked.”

NHK, Feb. 24, 2015: [TEPCO] did not take any measures to prevent radioactive water… from flowing into the Pacific… TEPCO was aware… April last year. But it did not make the information public or take any measures to stop the water from spilling into the ocean. TEPCO has not installed floodgates [and] does not plan to install any devices in the channel… TEPCO had earlier explained that the contaminated water only affected the port area.

NHK, Feb. 25, 2015: [R]adioactive substances spilled into the Pacific beyond the plant’s port… TEPCO knew last April [and] did nothing to prevent contaminated water from leaking directly out to sea, nor did it make the finding public.

NHK, Feb. 25, 2015: Fishermen accuse TEPCO of betrayal… A TEPCO official… apologized.

Watch NHK’s broadcast here | Full Gundersen interview here

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