Ken Buesseler, a senior scientist as the Woods Hole
Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts who has studied radiation leakage
from the Fukushima plant, said he is concerned about the lack of data on
levels of strontium-90 in the waters off Fukushima http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Asia-Pacific/2011/0317/Japan-nuclear-crisis-sparks-calls-for-IAEA-reform
[The IAEA are responsible for the testing of the
Pacific after the Daichi meltdowns Arclight2011] .
He said that the groundwater now leaking into the
Pacific—including, possibly, some contamination from leaking tanks—might now
have much higher levels of that particular substance. Strontium-90 has
potentially greater health risks than cesium isotopes because it becomes
concentrated in the bones of fish and humans, he said.
[...]
When the company belatedly revealed last month the
daily leakage of radioactive groundwater into the Pacific Ocean, a problem
that outside scientists have long suspected,
[...]
The development prompted Japanese government officials
to step in and take a more direct role: The government announced last week that
it is considering spending 50 billion yen ($410 million) to finance
construction of a frozen soil barrier—also known as an ice wall—in an effort to
block the groundwater from the plant from reaching the ocean. (See
related story: “Can an Ice
Wall Stop Radioactive Water Leaks From Fukushima?“)
That technology has long been used in the mining and construction fields, and
reportedly performed well in containing radioactive water in a U.S. government
test project in the early 1990s, but has never been used on a large scale at
a nuclear power plant.
“This leak is very serious,”said Dr. Janette Sherman,
an Alexandria, Virginia-based physician who specializes in radioactive and
toxic exposure. Dr. Sherman, who edited an in-depth study of health effects on
cleanup workers in the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster in the former Soviet
Union, said she is concerned that the cleanup crew at Fukushima Daiichi may
face long-term health risks.
She also raised the prospect of the radiation’s as-yet
unknown effects on fish and other marine life in the Pacific.
[No mention of the unfolding Thyroid epidemic?
Arclight2011]
Buesseler said he was concerned that the high level of
radiation from the leaking tank might just be a harbinger of what is to come
if more of the other temporary tanks begin to fail. But he’s even more
worried by revelations of leaks and other problems at the plant, which
lately have been coming with dismaying frequency.
“There is still a lot of contamination at Fukushima—in
the land, in the buildings, and now from these tanks,” Buesseler said.
“Every bit of news that we’ve been getting is that the
[radioactivity] numbers are going up.”
“I’m becoming less confident that [TEPCO] can contain
the problem,” he said.
Japan’s Nuclear Regulation Authority shares Buesseler’s
concern, warning that the latest leakage problem might be beyond TEPCO’s
ability to cope [Dont mention the IAEA = Arclight2011]
“We should assume that what has happened once could
happen again, and prepare for more,”
watchdog chairman Shunichi Tanaka told a news
conference, BBC News reported.
“We are in a situation where there is no time to waste.”
[...]
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