A series of leaks from underground storage pits in the compound of the stricken Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant forced Tokyo Electric Power Co. on April 16 to start transferring radioactive water from the No. 2 underground storage pool to tanks on the ground. This operation underlines the fact that the nuclear crisis at the power plant is far from over despite then Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda's Dec. 16, 2011, declaration that the stricken reactors at Fukushima No. 1 have entered "a state of cold shutdown" and that the nuclear crisis has "been resolved"(Shusoku ni itatta.)
Tepco has seven underground storage pools in the Fukushima No. 1 compound. Leaks have been confirmed in the Nos. 1 to 3 underground storage pools. It is estimated that up to 120 tons of contaminated water leaked from the No. 2 pool alone.
Tepco plans to finish transferring a total of 23,000 tons of tainted water from those three pools and a fourth pool to aboveground tanks, hopefully by the end of June once additional tanks are constructed.