TEPCO Detects New Radiation Contaminated Leak at No. 3 Reactor Building
Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO), embattled operator of crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant, has detected a new radiation contaminated water leak at the plant's No. 3 reactor building.
The leak was discovered through the camera of a rubble-removing robot placed inside the No. 3 building. The images caught by the robot showed a 30-cm-wide water leak inside the facility on the first floor.
None of the water, which was flowing into the basement of the reactor building, has leaked outside the building so far, TEPCO said. According to Japan Times, the radiation level on the first floor alone of the No. 3 reactor building has reached a high 30 millisieverts per hour.
The Japanese utility company said it is now investigating the source of the leak.
TEPCO theorized the leaking water could be the cooling water from the reactor containment vessel. If true, it poses another problem in the plant's decommissioning process.
On Wednesday, TEPCO has received approval from the Japanese government to revive the No 6 and No 7 reactors of its Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear facility.
Read: Defying Opposition, Japan OKs TEPCO Plan to Revive Closed Power Plant
The company has presented the revival plan as a visible attempt to remain afloat after the Fukushima disaster pushed it to the brink of bankruptcy.
In an interview with Bloomberg over the weekend, Naomi Hirose, TEPCO President, said the company will borrow 2 trillion yen in fresh loans from lenders and spend it on strategic investments through partnerships.
"For the sake of Fukushima's reconstruction, we have to seek growth," Mr Hirose said.
"To fulfill our responsibilities in Fukushima, we will need a lot of money and are being granted a goodly amount of the government's money," Mr Hirose added. "We have to repay it by improving corporate value."
TEPCO's net losses have reached 2.7 trillion yen for the three full fiscal years ended March 31.