Typhoon forces TEPCO to release tainted water into sea

I wonder how much more was 'accidentally' released in the process. Look at all these empty tanks! Who would've thought it! We must have missed them on our patrols.

TEPCO - the Rainmaker!

Very convenient ! Tepco now eagerly watches weather forecast anticipating next opportunity to realease "rain water".

TEPCO, liar liar pants on fire!

“We decided to release the water into sea as we reached a conclusion that it can be regarded as rainfall after we monitored levels of radiation,”

Strontium and cesium in water is now 'rainfall'

Please tell me this quote has been NOT been translated properly ...please?

Typhoon No.18 makes Fukushima Plant Radiation Free :(

again.. Tepco... you are totally inept, useless and should be taken off this immediately.

Its Japan none of these things events are surprising.. you have had not just 2 and half years but the entire life of the plant to prepare for, earthquakes, tsunamis, Typhoons and yet you continually defy belief when you can't predict or protect against what even a total layperson can see.

Its pathetic.

In related news, TEPCO reports dog ate homework.

How convenient.

This goes very well with yesterday's statement about how no radioactive water would reach the sea due to rainfall, doesn't it? Rainfall didn't reach the ocean, TEPCO pumped it into the ocean. This is already international news and the backlash is gonna be harsh. My guess is, TEPCO has been praying for heavy rain to clean up their leaks. One would also conclude that, now would be a good time to make a vested effort to get in and stop the leaks while radiation levels are low, but that would make too much sense, wouldn't it?

They've been waiting for an excuse like this to happen. It was only a matter of time.

This was news yesterday, and it should be noted that when it was originally made news on other forums it was stated that the move was possibly illegal, but that has since been removed, conveniently.

TEPCO wins again.

It is about time authorities realise dumping Radioactive contaminated waste water into The ocean affects all species of fish which is another food sources exploited by Japan It will affect their fish causing it to be unsafe for human and pet consumption

How convenient the typhoon was for those bastards.

@ BodyBoardBabe

Great idea. Then please take your body board off the coast of Fukushima and tell us how that goes for you.

one liter of the water contained up to 24 becquerels of strontium and other radioactive materials—below the 30 becquerel per liter safety limit

bet they're confused by compound interest, too

DudeDeuce,

Family, Jobs, Homes, schools etc etc there are many reasons that even if the thought has crossed your mind it isn't so easy to leave.

Incidentally, while many might criticise Tepco, and rightly so I would say, that doesn't mean that we all think there is no way to go forward and that we are all doomed, just that this is a serious situation that requires far better management than it currently seen.

Nobody is looking open the valves!

This is most " regretable" but I'm sure they will " sincerely reflect on the situation", "collect all relevant information swiftly " and "take appropriate action speedily ".

Sewer rats.

TEPCO Has constantly lied to the public about the seriousness of the radiation and the leaks. It is truly mind-boggling that such a company could have the authority to run or operate a nuclear power plant. They cannot even prepare for a typhoon. How can we expect them to prepare any other powerplants that exist in Japan for any other kind of disaster , such as an earthquake, tsunami... God for bid even another typhoon... Hey it's just water the base element of life!

I was always told that the greedy people rule the world this is absolutely proof. If any average person was to do the things that this company is doing they would be thrown in jail and the key would be lost!

But I have to say since the Japanese government has taken control they have been nothing to really help the situation. But the prime minister was kind enough just tell the world that everything is under control and there's no health risk.! I have a request in for the prime minister and all the cabinet members who support that lie. Please move to Fukushima and live there! Drink the water, fish from the ocean that this radiated water has been released into!

But we all know that will never happen because we all know that they know it is not safe. It is not under control.

They should ask the world if its okay to polute it before they take a one sided action. The sea belongs to everyone.

I call BS, Tepco would have opened the values and released as much as they could under the cover of the storm. Tepco are evil!

TEPCO made a good excuse about releasing such water. I do not hope that they intentionally released more water from tanks into sea water.

Let's just say this: they won't have to build any new tanks now for a couple of years...eh....eh...!

Just imaging that said a la peter Griffin, and it actually sounds funny!

Oh, I bought it was all under control?

Abe said that there is no problems with the reactors in Fukushima, and that it was all under control.

Well, it is is as Abe says, then what is it that there is contaminated water being leaked into the ocean at large quantities all of the time?

Love the use of "forces" in that headline, when we all know this is something they wanted to do for months. TEPCO`s mendaciousness has no bounds.

So far, total blackout from the IAEA re this "rainted" water release. PR and lawyers are making overtime for the next official communication.

Thunderbird2: Fukushima is a total nightmare with NO solution - even suggestion - as we speak. With currently known technology, it would be much easier and cheaper to build a 5-star hotel on the moon with daily shuttles from the earth than to fix this problem. Do the math, this is not fabulation!

TEPCO made a good excuse about releasing such water. I do not hope that they intentionally released more water from tanks into sea water.

Worker at Fukushima plant:- "All our tanks are full and we cant store more contaminated water, what should we do"

Top Management:- "You all are fired as you dont read the new Operating manual carefully, Clause 3a clearly state what to do when a Typhoon came".

Engineer at Plant:- : "what we will do in case Tsunami: ?

Top Management:- "We have Submarines ready for Top bosses to escape from disaster:

Tiger: but they won't. And years down the road when the plumes of radiation reaching the shores of the Americas affect fisheries there the government at that time will simply say it's someone else's fault... though 'regrettable'.

Thunderbir2: based on all what I could find on the web in the past 2,5 years (thousands of hours), there is currently no solution. Officially none know where the corms (3) are (which I seriously doubt) and no human being nor robot can approach the hot places due to too high radiations. And this will be for many years. The only thing we can hope is no major earthquake happen within the coming decade that would force to evacuate the site. Because the destroyed reactors MUST be cooled, no matter how.

@Thunderbird2

Open minded is right. As an example, if you look at the reactor 3 where MOX fuel (a mix of plutonium and uranium) was used, no one knows how to deal with unconfined plutonium which has moreover melted down altogether with the uranium and the control rods. Really no one knows how to deal with such situation. Plutonium is not joke....

Now this for the hardest part of the story but even with the water problem, it does not seem to be any long term solution. The government proposed the idea of freezing the soil so that artificial barriers can prevent the ground water to reach the site but how do they possibly keep a very large surface of soil frozen that long without running out of energy potentially from a simple factor of cost. Or are they proposing to use nuclear energy to produce the energy needed for the freezing in order to stabilize the situation in a destroyed nuclear site? That would be stupidity.

I just read the headline and not the article because that was the most BS I could handle at one time. The typhoon didn't "force" TEPCO to release contaminated water into the ocean. TEPCO has been releasing contaminated water into the ocean for at least a year REGARDLESS of the weather.

We should have seen that coming. They won't stop dumping it in the ocean until human bodies start washing up on shore. For the ocean animals they are going to say it is collateral damage from the earthquake and they could not have known it would happen. Sooo sad.

Wonder who will save us now. Mr putin?

For everyone who wants to understand what is the problem with Japan and how it relates to Fukushima, read this article:

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/community/2013/09/16/issues/fukushima-and-the-right-to-responsible-government/#.UjfZtWQayc0

This is a spot-on explanation that every one of us living in this country long enough would have already understood and agrees with.

OpenMinded - are you saying that there is absolutely nothing that can be done with Fukushima? Nothing? Zip? Nada? Nowt?

I can't believe there's no solution.

I hope there is a solution! But I fear there may not be one. Didn't the worker want to abandon the plant back in March 2011? Maybe they also concluded that there was nothing that could be done. It's very worrying. When you think of all the suggestions made for changes to make the plant safer, that were just ignored, it is just so annoying.

One of my problems with the whole Fukushima situation is that I don't see an end to it. I haven't seen any experts come up with suggestions in the media. All I see is people proclaiming that it will spell the end of life on Earth... or other comments of the type.

I see nothing helpful or constructive in the media... nothing. When the incident first happened boffins were suggesting encasing the reactors in concrete... and then nothing.

Tainted....how subtle .....

All you can do is wait till they try removing the rods, that is where all the danger are. http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-real-fukushima-danger-failure-of-fuel-pools-could-trigger-worldwide-radiation http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2012/04/a-visual-tour-of-the-fuel-pools-of-fukushima.html Former U.N. adviser Akio Matsumura calls removing the radioactive materials from the Fukushima fuel pools “an issue of human survival”.

So the stakes in decommissioning the fuel pools are high, indeed.

But in 2 months, Tepco – the knuckleheads who caused the accident – are going to start doing this very difficult operation on their own.

It is rain water. It MAY be contaminated as soon as it hits the ground near Fukushima power plant, but how seriously? TEPCO maesured the radiation levels and found it negligible. What is the big deal? The rain water flows naturally into the sea. Or is someone willing to pay for the costs to contain all the rain water with no radiation harm by building huge huge tanks, when we have real threat of highly contaminated water leaking nearby?

People criticize TEPCO and the dangers of Fukushima yet still live in the Kanto area, what gives?

The ocean is huge. Dump the whole lot in my opinion and quit wasting money on building storage tanks.