12 September 2013 (15:37 UTC-07 Tango)/07 Dhu ‘l-Qa’da 1434/21 Shahrivar 1392/08 Xin-You (8th month) 4711

“…the challenge is huge! It makes Three Mile Island look very simple, what you have is much more complex….”-Lake Barrett, former official with U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission in discussion with Tokyo Electric Power Company officials

The former U.S. NRC official, who oversaw the Three Mile Island cleanup, has criticized TEPCo for its lax attitude towards the handling of ongoing radioactive water leaks.

Lake Barrett spent the day inspecting the damaged area around the GE designed disaster reactors at Fukushima Daiichi.  He explained that Three Mile Island did not have the problem of contaminated water pouring out of reactors, and that there was no groundwater involved.

Barrett noted that TEPCo’s leak barriers around the contaminated water storage tank farms are pathetically inadequate.  However, he also warned that the volume of contaminated water is so large, and ongoing, that eventually all the highly radioactive water might have to be dumped into the Pacific Ocean anyway, because there is no safe or practical way to store it!

Barrett will meet with more officials in Tokyo on Friday.