Radioactive water spills out of Japan nuke plant after quake
April 8th, 2011 - 6:16 pm ICT by ANITokyo, Apr 8 (ANI): Radioactive water spilled from pools holding spent nuclear fuel rods at the Onagawa power plant in Miyagi Prefecture after an earthquake measuring 7.4 on the Richter scale rocked the region last night.
However, no abnormalities have been reported at the already troubled Fukushima Daiichi or the nearby Fukushima Daini following the strongest aftershock since the devastating March 11 earthquake-cum-tsunami in the country, the Kyodo news agency reports.
Despite losing their cooling functions for 20 to 80 minutes after the quake, the temperature of the spent fuel pools at the Onagawa plant and the Higashidori nuclear power station in Aomori Prefecture, both operated by Tohoku Electric Power Corporation, hardly rose, Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency said.
It also said that a small amount of contaminated water had reportedly spilled on the floor inside the buildings at all three reactors at the Onagawa plant, which has suspended operations since the 9.0 earthquake had jolted the country last month.
Overall, water spilled or leaked at eight sections of the plant as a result of the 11:32 p.m. quake, according to Tohoku Electric.
A highest level of radioactive isotope — 5,410 bequerels per kilogram was found in around 3.8 liters of water leaked that had spilled on the floor beside a spent fuel pool in the building housing the No. 1 reactor.
A spent nuclear fuel disposal facility in the village of Rokkasho in Aomori Prefecture had lost external power supply and switched to an emergency generator following the quake, but power was restored at 9:44 a.m. on Friday, the agency added. (ANI)
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Tags: aftershock, contaminated water, daiichi, emergency generator, fuel pools, industrial safety, kyodo news agency, liters of water, miyagi prefecture, nuclear fuel rods, nuclear power station, nuke plant, power plant, radioactive isotope, radioactive water, reactors, richter scale, rokkasho, safety agency, tohoku