Over 100,000 Tons of Radioactive Water Trapped at Japan Nuke Plant

More than 100,000 tons of highly radioactive water remained at a damaged nuclear plant in north-eastern Japan, the operator said Friday.
Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO), which runs the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, said the contaminated water might overflow if the area has another downpour during the rainy season, as dpa reported.
The plant was crippled by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami and has leaked radioactive substances ever since. The operator has continued to inject water to cool overheating reactors.
The operator said 16,200 tons of water has been trapped at reactor 1, 24,600 tons at reactor 2, 28,100 tons at reactor 3 and 22,900 tons at reactor 4. It added another 13,300 tons has already transferred to a waste storage facility.
The 105,100 tons of water contains an estimated 720,000 terabecquerels of radioactive substances, which is equivalent to about 3 million times the permissible level per year of radioactive substances leaking from the plant.
The operator said it plans to start a water purification system on June 15 that can filter 1,200 tons of tainted water a day. It will also install a basement storage tank in mid-August, which can hold 100,000 tons of highly radioactive water.
TEPCO said that if part of the water is moved to storage facilities, it is not expected to leak into the ocean at least until June 20.
The operator also said it had already sealed tunnels, pipelines and other channels to keep the contaminated water from leaking into the ocean.