A record level of radioactive cesium has been found in groundwater beneath a coastal levee east of reactor turbine buildings at the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, according to the plant operator.
A record level of radioactive cesium has been found in groundwater beneath a coastal levee east of reactor turbine buildings at the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, according to the plant operator.
Tokyo Electric Power Co. said Feb. 13 that 37,000 becquerels of cesium-134 and 93,000 becquerels of cesium-137 were detected per liter of groundwater sampled earlier in the day in a monitoring well on the levee. The total reading of 130,000 becquerels per liter is the highest ever observed in groundwater beneath the levee.
The same sampling well had produced a cesium reading of 76,000 becquerels per liter on Feb. 12.
The monitoring well is located close to underground pits, which are being flooded with inflows of highly radioactive water from reactor and turbine buildings. Highly radioactive water leaked from the bases of those pits to nearby areas immediately following the triple meltdown in March 2011.
TEPCO officials said they believe the radioactive contaminants originated from the leaks at that time.