Japan Fukushima toxic water leak a Level 3 'serious incident'

Tokyo (CNN) -- Japan's nuclear watchdog on Wednesday said a toxic water leak at the tsunami-damaged Fukushima Daiichi power plant has been classified as a level 3 "serious incident" on an international scale.

The Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) said it had made the decision after consulting with the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency, said Juntaro Yamada, a spokesman for the regulator.

As news emerged last week of the leak of hundreds of tons of radioactive water from a storage tank, the NRA said it was planning to issue the alert, its gravest warning since the massive 2011 earthquake and tsunami that sent three reactors at the plant into meltdown.

The leak had previously been assigned a level 1 "anomaly rating" on the International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale, which ranges from zero, for no safety threat, to seven, for a major accident like the meltdowns.

The decision to issue the level 3 alert came two days after a Japanese government minister had compared the plant operator's efforts to deal with worrying toxic water leaks at the site to a game of "whack-a-mole."

Toshimitsu Motegi, the industry minister, said Monday after visiting the plant that "from now on, the government is going to step forward." His ministry has been tasked by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to come up with measures to tackle the mounting problems at Fukushima Daiichi.

Huge volumes of toxic water

The plant operator, Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco), has been struggling to deal with the high volume of contaminated water at the plant.

Last month, Tepco admitted that radioactive groundwater was leaking into the Pacific Ocean from the site, bypassing an underground barrier built to seal in the water.

About 400 tons of groundwater flow into the site each day, and Tepco also pumps large amounts water through the buildings to keep the crippled reactors cool.

The operator has stored hundreds of thousands of tons of the contaminated water in huge tanks at the site. There are now about 1,000 of the containers, 93% of which are already full of radioactive water.

Around 350 of the tanks were built as temporary storage units in the aftermath of the meltdowns. But more than two years later, they are still being used.

It was one of those makeshift tanks where the leak was detected, setting off the latest crisis.

Tepco says it has transferred the remaining tainted water from the faulty tank to another container. But it hasn't said what caused the leak in the first place.

http://edition.cnn.com/2013/08/27/world/asia/japan-fukushima-leak-warning/index.html

원자력규제위는 이날 정례회의에서 후쿠시마 원전 오염수 저장탱크에서 오염수 300t이 흘러나온 사태에 대해 당초 1등급('일탈')으로 잠정 평가했던 국제 원전사고 평가척도(INES)상의 등급을 2단계 위인 3등급('중대한 이상현상')으로 올리기로 결정했다.

규제위는 유출된 오염수의 양과 방사성 물질 함유량(리터당 8천만 베크렐) 등을 감안해 이런 결정을 내렸다.

후쿠시마 제1원전 운영사인 도쿄전력은 지난 19일 1천t 용량 지상탱크에서 고농도 방사능 오염수 약 300t이 유출된 것을 확인하고 이튿날 이 사실을 발표했다.

규제위는 지상탱크의 오염수 유출이 처음 확인됐을 당시에는 유출량이 정확히 드러나지 않아 사고등급을 1등급으로 잠정 평가했다.

INES는 원전사고의 심각성에 따라 가장 낮은 0등급에서 체르노빌 원전사고(1986년)와 후쿠시마 원전사고(2011년) 때 부여됐던 가장 높은 7등급('심각한 사고')까지 총 8등급으로 나누어진다.

규제위는 방사능 오염수 유출 사태가 이미 7등급 평가를 받았던 후쿠시마 원전사고 이후에 발생한 문제라서 이와 별개로 새로 등급을 부여하는 게 가능한지를 국제원자력기구(IAEA)에 질의, 가능하다는 답변을 받았다.

3등급은 1997년 이바라키(茨城)현 도카이무라(東海村)의 핵연료 재처리 시설에서 화재 및 폭발 사고가 났을 당시와 같은 수준이다.

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