Japan’s Tepco hit by setback in clean-up of crippled Fukushima nuclear plant

TOKYO: The operator of Japan’s crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant has found that a coolant solution, used to create an ice wall halting the seepage of groundwater into reactor buildings, has leaked from two storage tanks.

The leakage has had no impact on the wall or environment, said Tokyo Electric Power Co Holdings Inc (Tepco).

Still, it underscores the unpredictable challenges in the clean-up of the site, nearly 11 year after an earthquake and tsunami ravaged Japan’s northeastern coast, causing the world’s worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl, Ukraine, in 1986.

Only last year, Japan’s government approved the release of over 1 million tonnes of irradiated water from the site after treatment, starting around spring 2023. Tepco last month said it would build a tunnel reaching into the sea for the operation.