TEPCO’s been struggling to keep Fukushima’s scorching reactors cool. They’ve also been struggling to deal with the massive volume of (now radioactive) coolant water. It’s not going so well – tons of it are spilling into the ground, Reuters reports.
The leak’s a consequence of TEPCO’s botched attempts to purify contaminated water held in giant storage containers – an effort that’s been marred by mechanical screw-ups and delays. And now, the realisation that 15 metric tons of it have already seeped into the ground around the plant, filling the soil with radioactive isotopes. [Reuters]