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Highly Contaminated Water Probably Leaking from the Central Waste Processing Facility at #Fukushima I Nuke Plant

Remember TEPCO has been transporting the highly radioactive water from the turbine buildings to the basement of one of the buildings of the Central Waste Processing Facility after they said they had leak-proofed the Facility?

Leak-proof? Not so. The water level at the building dropped 5 centimeters, TEPCO announced on May 26, and that's equivalent of 50 tonnes of water. But TEPCO also assures us that it is not leaking outside the building.

As the article below says, the Reactor 3's turbine building alone has 22,000 tonnes of highly contaminated water. The transfer to this particular building of the Central Waste Processing Facility only reduced that amount by 3,660 tonnes.

TEPCO claims AREVA's water processing facility will be ready in June and that will solve all kinds of problems. The cost of processing the contaminated water allegedly demanded by AREVA is 200 million yen (US$2.44 million) per tonne. (More about the shady AREVA contract later.)

All kinds of other solutions like "water entombment" were going to solve all kinds of problems, until TEPCO had to reveal that both the RPV and the Containment Vessel had holes.

From Mainichi Shinbun Japanese (11:25AM JST 5/26/2011):

　東京電力は２６日、福島第１原発３号機のタービン建屋から移送した汚染水の受け入れ施設で、１日で約５センチの水位の低下が見つかったと発表した。周辺地下水の分析結果に変動がないことから、東電は「施設から外に漏れだしている可能性は低い」と説明している。

TEPCO announced on May 26 that the facility that received the contaminated water from the Reactor 3 turbine building at Fukushima I Nuke Plant saw the water level at the facility dropped by 5 centimeters in one day. The analysis of the ground water around the facility didn't show a marked increase in radioactive materials, which led TEPCO to conclude that it was unlikely that the contaminated water had leaked from the facility.

　３号機の汚染水は１７日から集中廃棄物処理施設の一つの建屋地下に移送していたが、満杯に近づいたとして２５日午前９時過ぎに移送を中断した。そ の後に水位を確認したところ、同日午前１１時から２６日午前７時までの間に４８ミリ低下していた。水量は約５０立方メートルに相当するとみられる。

TEPCO started to transfer the contaminated water from the Reactor 3 to the basement of one of the buildings that makes up the Central Waste Processing Facility on May 17, and stopped the transfer at 9AM on May 25 as the basement almost became full. But when the water level was measured at 7AM on May 26, it had decreased by 48 millimeters (4.8 centimeters) since 11AM on May 25. The decrease is equivalent of about 50 cubic meters [or 50 tonnes].

　東電は「処理施設建屋の地下２階で止水工事が不十分な場所から、（同施設の）別の建物との連絡通路に漏れている可能性がある」と原因を推測。外部 への漏えいが見つかれば汚染水を別の場所に再び移送する必要が出てくる。しかし、現在２号機の汚染水を移送している同施設の別の建屋もほぼ満杯になってお り、移送先の確保は難航が予想される。

TEPCO thinks "there is a possibility that the 2nd floor of the basement in the building may have places that are not totally leak-proof, and the water is leaking from there into the corridor that connects to the other building of the [Central Waste Processing] Facility." If the leaks are found, the contaminated water there needs to be transported to somewhere else. However, the building that's been receiving the contaminated water from the Reactor 2 is almost full, and it will be hard to secure the space for the transfer.
　３号機タービン建屋では、高濃度の放射性物質を含む約２万２０００立方メートルの汚染水が見つかっている。移送先の施設は約４０００立方メートルの受け入れが可能だが、計３６６０立方メートルを移送した時点で中断した。

There are 22,000 cubic meters [22,000 tonnes] of highly contaminated water in the Reactor 3 turbine building. The building that this water was being transferred to has the capacity of 4,000 cubic meters [4,000 tonnes], but the transfer was halted after 3,660 cubic meters [3,660 tonnes] of the water had been transferred.