Fukushima Power Plant Leaking into Ground Water
B. McPherson The wrecked Fukushima power plant in Japan is continuing to contaminate the environment with radioactive materials. High levels of tritium and strontium-90 have been detected in the groundwater beneath reactor 2. Tepco officials are maintaining their record of incompetence and obfuscation by speculating that the high levels likely leaked via the turbine building. The ground water levels of strontium-90 have increased 100x since December 2012(measurments taken in May). Strontium-90 is a dangerous radioactive element that the body incorporates in the same way as it incorporates calcium. It was prevalent in the atmosphere during the post WWII Cold War, when many nations were doing nuclear weapons testing in the atmosphere. The half-life for strontium-90 is 28 years, so it continues to release radiation for many years. Tepco is now partially owned by the Japanese government. In a clever way to spread the costs of the attempted cleanup, the Japanese governmen...