Oil Leaking Into Sea Near Fukushima Nuclear Plant
Selasa, 31 Mei 2011 by Android Blackberry
TOKYO -Oil has been found leaking into the sea near the crisis-hit Fukushima nuclear power plant, possibly from nearby oil tanks that may have been damaged within the March earthquake and tsunami, the plant operator said Tuesday, adding that it'll set up oil fences to avoid the liquid from spreading into the Pacific Ocean.
The oil slick was found at 8 a.m. by Tokyo Electric Power Co workers who had been patrolling the premises of the plant on the Pacific coast, and is believed to be spreading at a 200-300 meter range inside breakwaters.
As the leakage appears to have remained inside the breakwaters, the government’s Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency spokesman Hidehiko Nishiyama said that the impact on areas outside the breakwaters is likely to be ‘‘extremely limited’’ so far.
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| Oil Leaking Into Sea Near Fukushima Nuclear Plant |
Tokyo Electric suspects that the oil may well have leaked from tanks located near the water intake for the Nos. 5 and 6 reactors or pipes that deliver the oil, due to the fact the March 11 disaster took location when a tanker was supplying oil. Among the tanks was moved from its original location simply because of the tsunami.
The tanks, each and every with a 960-kiloliter capacity, are believed to have had some heavy oil inside, but it is unknown exactly how much.
Nishiyama stated that workers did not notice any oil leakage during their patrol at around five p.m. Monday, immediately after northeastern Japan saw bad weather.
Though workers at the plant continue to struggle to contain the ongoing nuclear crisis, it was discovered Tuesday that the head of a government taskforce on the Fukushima disaster has been absent because Could 19 mainly because of illness.
The head, senior vice industry minister Motohisa Ikeda, has been hospitalized, Economy, Trade and Business Minister Banri Kaieda told a parliamentary committee.
A senior bureaucrat of the nuclear safety agency is serving as the acting chief, but the government had not announced the fac
