The operator of Japan's crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant said this month that two storage tanks had leaked about four tonnes of coolant solution used to create an ice wall that prevented groundwater from seeping in.
In operation since 2016, the ice wall, as the structure is called, is really more like a barrier of frozen soil. Built by Kajima Corpis meant to keep contaminated water within the plant while keeping out groundwater, which becomes radioactive on seeping into the basements of the crippled reactors and coming in contact with highly radioactive debris there.
Now space is running out, as nearly 1.3 million tonnes of such water has accumulated, or enough to fill about 500 swimming pools of Olympic size.Coolant pumped into freeze tubes reduces temperatures to about -30 degrees C in about 1,500 tubes filled with brine located at a depth of 30 meters along a perimeter of 1.5 km around the plant.
The last of roughly eight leaks since the wall became operative was in 2019, probably because of metal fatigue from vibrations caused by construction vehicles. The coolant in Sunday's leak was a solution of calcium chloride, used in concrete mixes to hasten setting and in food to firm it.In December, Tepco said it aimed to build an underwater tunnel to release the water into the sea, in the latest stage of a plan to discharge about 1 million tonnes after treatment and dilution, at a point about 1 km offshore.The treated water is to be pumped from tanks for release at a depth of 12 metres , with construction set to start this year.
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