Event will allow 100 trillion becquerels of cesium to escape
Left unmentioned is the possibility that a tsunami may strike the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant.
On Saturday the Tokyo Electric Power Company, also known as TEPCO, said the typhoon may strike the decommissioned nuclear plant seriously damaged during the earthquake and tsunami of 2011.
TEPCO said a tsunami generated by the typhoon could reach a height of 26.3 meters, or over 86 feet.
The 2011 tsunami generated by a 9.0 magnitude earthquake that crippled the plant was much smaller – only 15.5 meters, around 50 feet in height.
TEPCO admits a tsunami of that size only occurs once every 10,000 to 100,000 years.
“The deluge would likely cause seawater to mingle with the radiation-tainted water accumulating in the basements of the reactor buildings at the six-unit plant, allowing 100 trillion becquerels of cesium to escape, according to an estimate that Tepco revealed Friday at a meeting of the Nuclear Regulation Authority,” the Japan Times reports.
The Nuclear Regulation Authority of Japan plans to check the accuracy of TEPCO’s typhoon assessment and the “appropriateness” of its announced counter measures.
TEPCO announced it plans to “reduce the vast quantity of radioactive water” on site “by filling in trenches near reactors.”
