Fukushima, April 14: Restoration work at crisis-hit Japan’s Fukushima power plant continues despite a 5.8-magnitude earthquake that struck near the power station.
Japan Meteorological Agency said the epicenter of the earthquake was at Fukushima Prefecture. However, no tsunami warning was issued.
Fukushima plant’s operator, Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO), said workers had not been evacuated and work to remove 60,000 tons of highly radioactive water from reactor buildings continues normally.
The work began on Tuesday and almost 200 tons of contaminated water has been removed from basements of the Number 1 to 3 reactor turbine buildings as well as the nearby underground trenches connected to them.
Japan’s Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency Hidehiko Nishiyama said the level of highly radioactive water that has been filling up the reactor No. 2 building was lowered by 4 to 5 centimeters.
Four reactors at Fukushima power plant were damaged when a destructive earthquake and tsunami hit Japan’s northern coast on March 11, leading to a meltdown and radiation leakage.
Since April 4, TEPCO has dumped 9,070 tons of water with lower levels of radiation, and about 1,300 tons of radioactive groundwater from near reactors 5 and 6 into the Pacific Ocean to make room for more contaminated water from reactor No.2 in storage facilities.
——–Agencies