Japan quake causes radioactive water spill

[sludge]

Japan quake causes radioactive water spill from spent fuel storage pools; no leakage outside

TOKYO (AP) -- Water containing small amounts of radiation spilled out of spent fuel storage pools at two nuclear power plants in northern Japan when a powerful magnitude-7.2 earthquake shook the region, the plants' operator said Wednesday.
The water spill from the three pools - two at Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant and the third at the separate No. 2 plant - did not leak radiation outside the compounds and workers were not exposed, Tokyo Electric Power Co. said. Fukushima is about 260 kilometers (160 miles) northeast of Tokyo.
Tuesday's powerful quake shook wide areas of northern Japan and injured 81 people, according to public broadcaster NHK, but there were no deaths. Tokyo police earlier said that 60 people were injured in the quake.
Water in spent fuel storage pools splashed against the walls during the quake, and some entered wall-mounted ventilation duct openings, company spokesman Hitoshi Hagiwara said. The water later dripped to the floor from the pipes' joints, he said.
More than 24 liters (6.3 gallons) of water spilled from the three pools, which store spent fuel from three reactors at the two plants, Hagiwara said. The leakage has now been cleaned up, he said.
The reactors, which are located in the same buildings as the pools, were unaffected by the quake, the company said in a statement.
...LINK...


NSFW

[AssKissinger]

[SIZE="5"]Radioactive Water Leaks From Japan Plant [/SIZE]32 minutes ago



Coolant water containing radioactive material leaked in an inactive nuclear power plant in western Japan, the plant's operator said Tuesday.

A worker discovered water leaking from the primary coolant tank after an alarm went off Tuesday afternoon at Reactor No. 3 of the Mihama nuclear power plant in Fukui prefecture, about 200 miles west of Tokyo, according to Kansai Electric Power Co. spokesman Hiroshi Toshikiyo.

No radiation leaked outside the compound, and no one was exposed to radiation, Toshikiyo said. Workers may have incorrectly attached a pipe to the tank, which caused water to spill into a catchment area, he said.

The reactor has been closed since August 2004 after a corroded pipe ruptured and sprayed plant workers with boiling water and steam, killing five and injuring six others in the country's worst nuclear plant accident. There was no radiation leak then.

The government in December said Kansai Electric could restart the reactor, saying the pipe had been repaired in line with government safety standards. The energy company has been carrying out checks since then, but the plant has yet to resume operations.

Resource-poor Japan is heavily dependent on its nuclear program, with 52 active nuclear reactors supplying 35 percent of its electricity. The government has said it wants to raise the figure to nearly 40 percent by 2010.

But the public has grown increasingly wary of the nuclear power industry following a series of safety problems, shutdowns and cover-ups. In 1999, an accident at a reprocessing plant north of Tokyo killed two workers and exposed hundreds to radioactivity.