Hundreds of tons of radioactive water have been detected near tanks at Japan's ruined Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station after heavy rains fell over the weekend.
Officials at the Tokyo Electric Power Company, which operates the plant, said Monday that TEPCO had underestimated the amount of rain that would fall Sunday. TEPCO said high levels of radioactive strontium overflowed containment areas built around about 1,000 tanks which store tons of radioactive water at the facility.
TEPCO said it plans to pump out the accumulating rainwater into empty tanks, check it for radioactivity and release it into the sea if it is not contaminated.
TEPCO has been battling to contain leaks at the Fukushima facility since the complex was hit by a devastating earthquake and tsunami in March of 2011.
The latest developments come as another typhoon with more rain approaches Japan and as U.N. nuclear officials wrap up their review of the country's progress in cleaning up from the disaster.
Officials at the Tokyo Electric Power Company, which operates the plant, said Monday that TEPCO had underestimated the amount of rain that would fall Sunday. TEPCO said high levels of radioactive strontium overflowed containment areas built around about 1,000 tanks which store tons of radioactive water at the facility.
TEPCO said it plans to pump out the accumulating rainwater into empty tanks, check it for radioactivity and release it into the sea if it is not contaminated.
TEPCO has been battling to contain leaks at the Fukushima facility since the complex was hit by a devastating earthquake and tsunami in March of 2011.
The latest developments come as another typhoon with more rain approaches Japan and as U.N. nuclear officials wrap up their review of the country's progress in cleaning up from the disaster.
