Heavy Rain Causes Overflow at Fukushima: It’s Time For An International Response

TEPCO announced early today that torrential rain has caused barriers to be overtopped and allowed water to overflow in 12 different areas of the stricken plant.

This follows a massive radiation spike last week at a well near the spent fuel storage tanks.

Typhoon Wipha is being blamed for the latest leaks. Japan is in an area that is regularly hit by typhoons and heavy storms yet no preparation other than a few dykes and barriers was made.

RT.com reports:

However, estimates still may be unreliable. The UN Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation (UNSCEAR) raised doubts at the beginning of the month. A preliminary report published in the Japanese press concluded that estimates of radioactive substances discharged at the plant provided by the Japanese authorities, TEPCO, and other entities may have underestimated the impact of the disaster.

The power plant was disrupted in March 2011 by a massive earthquake and tsunami which wreaked havoc at Fukushima and sparked a nuclear crisis in which meltdowns occurred in three reactors.  It was considered to be the world’s worst nuclear accident since the Chernobyl disaster in 1986.

In September, a senior utility expert at Fukushima, Kazuhiko Yamashita, said that the plant was“not under control.”TEPCO downplayed his comments, saying that he had only been talking about the plant’s waste water problem – not the facility as a whole.

So as the Japanese try once again to work out what radioactive elements have reached the ocean the International community sits back and does nothing.

The legacy of Fukushima grows worse by the day and once again I say “the time to take action is now“.