A terrifying incident has occurred at Japan’s wrecked Fukushima nuclear power plant. It has been reported that about twenty-five tons of radioactively contaminated water has leaked from the plant’s Reactor Unit-2.
     The Fukushima plant’s operator Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO) discovered the leak on August 9th. However, the company claimed that the contaminated water didn’t get into the environment as it flowed into the basement, according to reports.
     Before the discovery of the leak, an abnormal decrease in the water level was noticed in one of the water control tanks in the nuclear fuel cooling pool.
     A robot was launched into the building to look for the reason. It turned out that the water that had leaked from the tank had run into the basement, reported UNN. The robot’s inspection confirmed that the water leaked via sewage systems and there was no outside leak, as per TEPCO. TEPCO says that a robot will be used for a more detailed examination of Unit 2.
     The company has now stopped pumping water into the cooling pond. They claim that the leak will not cause the fuel to heat up beyond the threshold of sixty-five degrees Centigrade.
     Earlier in February, TEPCO detected a radioactive water leak at the Fukushima Daiichi plant. The leakage volume for the February leak was about five and a half tons of water and the area was approximately four by four meters. The company began discharging water from the plant into the ocean in August of 2023. There were many complaints from other nations around the Pacific Ocean fearing radioactive contamination. Some countries banned import of Japanese seafood.
     Previously, TEPCO announced on August 9th that equipment related to the spent fuel pool of Reactor Unit 2 had malfunctioned. As a precautionary measure, the cooling system for the spent fuel pool was subsequently halted while investigations into the cause of the malfunction commenced were carried out.
     On the 11th of March 2011, the Fukushima-Daiichi Nuclear Power Station (FDNPS) suffered major damage after the magnitude 9.0 great east-Japan earthquake and subsequent tsunami which caused flooding of the plant.
     The combined impact and consequences of the earthquake and tsunami caused great loss of life and widespread devastation in north-eastern Japan. It was the largest civilian nuclear accident since the Chernobyl disaster in Ukraine in 1986.
     This was followed by severe flooding at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station which destroyed electrical generators that were needed to cool the nuclear fuel. The fuel overheated, melted down and caused explosions which destroyed other reactors at the plant. Radioactive material was released from the damaged plant and tens of thousands of people were evacuated. The Fukushima disaster was categorized as a Level 7 Major Accident on the International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale.
     In the first days following the accident, the International Atomic Energy Commission established teams to evaluate key nuclear safety elements and assess radiological levels. The United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation (UNSCEAR) investigated the levels and effects of exposure to ionizing radiation.

     Watchdogs are raising new concerns about legacy nuclear contamination in Los Alamos. Los Alamos is the birthplace of the atomic bomb and home to a renewed effort to manufacture key components for nuclear weapons.
     Michael Ketterer is a Northern Arizona University professor emeritus. He analyzed soil, water and vegetation samples taken along a popular hiking and biking trail in Acid Canyon. He said last Thursday that there were more extreme concentrations of plutonium found there than at any other publicly accessible sites he has researched in his decades-long career. That includes contamination of land around the federal gvernment’s former weapons plant at Rocky Flats in Colorado.
     Michael Ketterer specializes in tracking the chemical fingerprints of radioactive materials. Outdoor enthusiasts may not be in immediate danger while traveling through the pine tree-lined canyon. However, Ketterer said state and local officials should be warning people to avoid coming in contact with water in Acid Canyon.
     Ketterer said, “This is an unrestricted area. I’ve never seen anything quite like it in the United States. It’s just an extreme example of very high concentrations of plutonium in soils and sediments. Really, you know, the contamination is hiding in plain sight.”
     Ketterer teamed up with the group Nuclear Watch New Mexico to gather the samples in July. July is a rainy period that often results in isolated downpours and stormwater runoff coursing through canyons and otherwise dry arroyos. Water was flowing through Acid Canyon when the samples were taken from water and soil.
     Ketterer’s work followed mapping done by the group earlier this year that was based on a Los Alamos National Laboratory database including plutonium samples from throughout the area.
     Jay Coghlan is the director of Nuclear Watch. He said the detection of high levels of plutonium in the heart of Los Alamos is a concern. Especially as the lab gears up to begin producing the next generation of plutonium pits for the nation’s nuclear arsenal. The Los Alamos laboratory is under the direction of Congress, the U.S. Energy Department and the National Nuclear Security Administration. He stated that Acid Canyon is a place where more comprehensive cleanup should have happened decades ago.

Coghlan said that “Cleanup at Los Alamos is long delayed.” He added that annual spending for the plutonium pit work has neared two billion dollars in recent years while the cleanup budget for legacy waste is expected to decrease in the next fiscal year.
     Acid Canyon is among the tributaries that eventually pass through San Ildefonso Pueblo lands on their way to the Rio Grande. From 1943 to 1964, liquid wastes from nuclear research at the lab was piped into the canyon.
     The federal government began cleaning up Acid Canyon in the late 1960s. The land was eventually transferred to Los Alamos County. Officials decided in the 1980s that conditions within Acid Canyon met DOE standards and were protective of human health and the environment.
     The U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management at Los Alamos said Thursday that it was preparing a response to Ketterer’s findings.
     Ketterer and Coghlan said the concerns about contamination now are the continued downstream migration of plutonium, absorption by plants and the creation of contaminated ash following wildfires.
     Ketterer described it as a problem that cannot be fixed. However, he said the residents and visitors would appreciate knowing that it’s there.

     Ketterer said, “It really can’t be undone, I suppose we could go into Acid Canyon and start scooping out a lot more contaminated stuff and keep doing that. It’s kind of like trying to pick up salt that’s been thrown into a shag carpet. It’s crazy to think you’re going to get it all.”