Over two years after the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in Japan was devastated by a tsunami, radioactive water is still leaking into the ocean, spelling more trouble for the local fishing industry along the coast of Fukushima prefecture.
Last month the plant鈥檚 owner, Tepco, finally admitted what many had suspected 鈥� . Now Japan鈥檚 Nuclear Regulatory Authority is , and says Tepco鈥檚 plans to stop the leak are unlikely to work.
The problem is that groundwater is entering the damaged reactor buildings, picking up radioactive elements like caesium and seeping out to sea. Tepco has spent months pumping the water to the surface and storing it in tanks, and sinking wells to lower the water table.
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They also have a plan to purify the water, but this is only a partial solution as some radioactive substances, like tritium, cannot be removed.
Underground dam
Tepco is now and stem the flow. But this is probably too late: the rising water will soon swamp them.
鈥淸Tepco] are admitting something we鈥檝e known all along,鈥� says of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts. He has observed elevated levels of caesium and other radioactive elements in the oceans off Fukushima ever since 2011. The biggest leaks happened soon after the tsunami. The ongoing leaks are thousands of times smaller, but their radioactivity is still detectable.
The radioactive elements disperse once in the ocean, so there is no threat to the Pacific at large, says of the National Oceanography Centre in Southampton, UK. 鈥淏ut it will cause a problem in the immediate vicinity of Fukushima.鈥�
Japan has set a strict limit on levels of caesium in seafood, so the leaks will only extend the ban on locally caught fish and seafood being sold, depriving communities of their livelihoods.
Given that Tepco is unlikely to stem the leaks from Fukushima any time soon, the fishing ban could continue for a long time. 鈥淧eople ask when will it be safe, and we can鈥檛 answer that,鈥� says Buesseler. 鈥淭he only thing you can do is stop the source, and that鈥檚 a huge engineering challenge.鈥�
