A radioactive leakage has been registered on a decommissioned nuclear reprocessing plant in the Japanese village of Tokai in the Ibaraki Prefecture, located some 75 miles to the north-east of Tokyo, media reported on Thursday, citing the Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA).
TOKYO (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 08th November, 2018) A radioactive leakage has been registered on a decommissioned nuclear reprocessing plant in the Japanese village of Tokai in the Ibaraki Prefecture, located some 75 miles to the north-east of Tokyo, media reported on Thursday, citing the Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA).
According to the Kyodo news agency, the JAEA staff noticed the leakage on Wednesday evening. While nuclear sites and plants have to report all radioactivity levels exceeding 370,000 Becquerels, in Tokai, the level reached 833 Becquerels.
The leakage may have been caused by a worn-out rubber gasket in a sealed container, where the plant's staff carried out operations with radioactive materials through special gloves, the outlet said. None of the staff members have been hurt and no damage has been done to the environment.
The plant in question was decommissioned in 2014. According to the plan, the decommission is expected to take 70 years and cost Japanese taxpayers around $9 billion.
