Thousands evacuate as Fukishima nuclear emergency is declared

[Magda Hassan]

Fukushima owner says plant may be leaking radiation into sea

Published: [COLOR=#999999 !important]26 October, 2012, 16:56

The Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) told journalists Friday they could not confirm that radiation had stopped leaking from the nuclear power plant struck by a massive earthquake in March 2011. Still, they said that radiation levels in the seawater and seabed soil around the plant were declining.TEPCO, operator of the Fukushima nuclear facility, said that radiation leaks at the plant had not fully stopped. The remarks came after a US report that irradiated fish are still being caught off the coast of Japan following the 2011 meltdown.
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A recent article in the academic journal Science revealed that 40 percent of bottom-dwelling marine species in the area show cesium-134 and 137 levels that are still higher than normal.

"The numbers aren't going down. Oceans usually cause the concentrations to decrease if the spigot is turned off," Ken Buesseler, study author and senior scientist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution told the Associated Press. "There has to be somewhere they're picking up the cesium."

"Option one is the seafloor is the source of the continued contamination. The other source could be the reactors themselves," Buesseler added.

Radioactive cesium is a human-made radioactive isotope produced through nuclear fission of the element cesium. It has a half-life of 30 years, making it extremely toxic.

TEPCO has confirmed that the radioactive water used to cool the plant's reactors leaked into the ocean several times, most recently in April.
https://rt.com/news/fukushima-leaking-ra...n-sea-314/