As the battle continues at the Fukushima reactors, the ‘fog of war’ has once again descended, throwing doubt on vital groundwater contamination data.
Yesterday, Kyodo News reported that the first groundwater contamination at the Fukushima power plant had been detected, and cited levels 10,000 times the legal limits. The number came from the Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco), the plant operator.
Today, Japan’s Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency said that Tepco’s data was wrong, although there is little doubt that groundwater has been contaminated. According to Kyodo News:
Hidehiko Nishiyama, a spokesman for the governmental nuclear regulatory body, said it was ‘’extremely regrettable’’ that TEPCO had given incorrect radiation data at the plant for the second time. The agency has strongly warned the operator over the matter and urged it to take steps not to do so again, he added.
Problems with Tepco’s analysis software are being blamed for the error. Tepco has already had to retract data showing incredibly high radiation levels in water flooding the basement beneath reactor 2.
Meanwhile, Tepco is also under fire for not protecting its workers adequately. The LA Times notes that “many workers at the facility do not have radiation monitoring badges. Tepco, which owns the facility, confirmed the report, noting that much of its supplies had been destroyed in the magnitude 9 Tohoku earthquake and the tsunami that followed it. But company officials said that the leaders of each team of workers have a badge and that workers without badges are assigned to areas with low radiation risk.”
In other news, Tepco workers will spray a water-soluble resin over debris scattered around the plant to damp down radioactive dust that could be blown into the air. The company expects to use 60,000 litres of the resin over the next two weeks.(Kyodo News)
It will come as no surprise that Tepco has said the four damaged nuclear reactors will have to be scrapped, at a cost of billions of dollars (Daily Yomiuri, and many others).
For full coverage of the Fukushima disaster, go to Nature’s news special.