TOKYO (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 23rd January, 2022) Around 4 tons of liquid coolant solution used to maintain the frozen wall surrounding reactor buildings at Japan's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant have leaked, according to the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO).
Levels of the calcium chloride solution stored at minus 30 degrees Celsius in four tanks dropped in two of the tanks on January 16, TEPCO said as cited by the NHK broadcaster on Sunday.
TEPCO staff found a pool of the solution near the ice wall and estimated roughly 4 tons of it had leaked. The Fukushima operator emphasized that the solution does not harm the environment.
The cause of the leak might be damage to the piping used to keep the coolant circulating, TEPCO said, adding that it will be working on fixing the damage and that there appears to be no danger to the ice wall since it would take several months for the barrier to start to thaw.
The underground ice wall was designed by TEPCO in 2016 to prevent the pollution of groundwater around the Fukushima reactor buildings and to prevent its inflow into the frozen soil. The barrier was completed in 2018.
The Fukushima nuclear disaster occurred on March 11, 2011, when the facility was heavily damaged after a 9.0-magnitude earthquake in the Pacific Ocean triggered a massive tsunami that hit the plant and caused three nuclear reactors to melt down.
