New radiation hotspots found near Fukushima tanks

Feckless!

How do you not notice 300 tonnes of water leaking?!

The answer - you don't. Incompetent, laissez faire attitude over an issue that requires the highest standards of control and responsibility.

The Japanese Government needs to take this more seriously, and if TEPCO can't deal with it competently, the Gov needs to come down on them hard.

Bad news but serving a small dose everyday, so it's alright (?)

Over a year ago I was thumbed down for saying we were frogs in a pot being boiled slowly with the way TEPCO and the government would slowly dole out some bad information, give us time to get used to it and then dole out some more bad information and so on. I take it that all hope I was wrong on that front is now gone. Sad.

From day one this is an uncontrollable situation. Recognize it and act accordingly! Regardless of the extent of it, i.e. money and nuke meat!

"How do you not notice 300 tonnes of water leaking?!"

NHK reported that Tepco didn't bother to put any gauges on the tanks, so no one knows how much poison is really out there. There are so many leaks at the site that the situation is beyond the morons' grasp.

Yeah, and Japan wants to export its nuclear technology to other countries!

Giga toxic tank with no gauge...??????

If this is not a joke, the situation is definitely lost for good!

Horrible job done with the tanks. I bet those cheap tanks don't seem to be such a good idea now!!! Just like every single thing they done so far they chose a shortcut that made their problems grow into tragedies!!!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-23779561

Bandages are bandages, no real solution.

The inspections were prompted by the discovery of a leak that the company said may have carried radioactive materials out to sea

No, No, No. I'd love to give TEPCO the credit for being sytematic and thorough, but the inspections were prompted by the increasing (international) pressure that has been put on TEPCO, with one of the U.S. inspectors very blunt and to the point, telling TEPCO publicly, "You don't know what you're doing."

This has prompted the Japan's nuclear watchdog to be stricter with these deceivers. Notice how more news is coming out now, and none of it is good. Only now are we being kept abreast of what is happening. I'm glad they are now starting to make public announcements but that doesn't absolve them of blame for two years of deception and cover ups.

What a bunch of lazy bastards.

Union carbide, Exon Valdes, TEPCO must have the crown for environment damage, greed and short term thinking. No gauges on the tanks! Unable to tell how much water released? Denied there was even a problem at the beginning even as the BBC was showing massive explosions on site! God help us in November.

this is a new lie, one more time, in the endless stream of lies: of course they knew what was happening, but they thought they could solve the problem before it got out of hand. now it's too late, and they have to admit what's happening. never ever trust the guys with a lot of power/money, they will do anything, lies and cover-ups, and disregard people's lives. this includes our governments.

@Tamarama, you are right except that the government is as compentent as the management at Tepco

Never ending problem.

"The absence of a volume gauge on the 1,000-ton tank made detecting the problem more difficult, experts say."

Sounds like they were doing their usual bang-up job of NOT selling to the cheapest bidder. Oops, erase the sarcastic 'not'. So if these new hotspots are being found, and there are no leaks, where are they coming from? If they have been there all along, why has it taken them two years to find?

@hatsoff

Notice how more news is coming out now, and none of it is good. Only now are we being kept abreast of what is happening.

Do you really believe we are now being told the whole story? I suspect that if they said what has really been happening, and gave genuine projections for the future of Fukushima, you'd be packing your bags in a hurry. Obviously, this is just speculation on my part because I know about as much as anyone else does, which is actually very little.

I miss the Japan I used to believe in!

Face it , these people that are handling this wanted to abandon the place at the start, its a losing battle, there are NOT enough resources in the world to stop its eventual demise , lets force them for temp meters and webcams everywhere on the site, and pigs do fly

The sheer incompetency of tepco in handling this problem is mind boggling. Why don't they just IAEA handle this? They've had over two years!

The sheer incompetency of tepco in handling this problem is mind boggling. Why don't they just IAEA handle this? They've had over two years!

Because there's something they don't want the rest of the world to know?

Their water table is contaminated, as is the ocean. Carefull what you buy from Tohoku and the Pacific fishing areas. A lot of shops are still not clearly labeling goods. They are mixing a lot of the fish from the pacific side into Sushi and Sashimi sets. It's a blatent disgrace. It seems to me that shops and restaurants don't care since this crisis is shrouded by secrecy and apathy.

All these people working there and they don't have at least 1 person checking the tanks?

Enough BS; the UN and the IAEA should force their way into the country and take over the clean up and running of this nuclear power plant. Japan cannot and will not do it and the rest of the world is going to pay dearly when this nuclear stretches across the Pacific.

So, no new leaks were found. One would think that, if the job was done properly in the first place there would be no leaks or a need to check for them, right? It should also be noted there is no mention of the existing leaks and how they intend to deal with them. I guess they are just praying for rain to wash away the hot-spots and everything will be ok - wash them into the sea, that is. Yeah, this is not an easy task, but it is the most important engineering job Japan has ever faced and they are making a complete balls up of it!

And you think this is the truth?

There is much much more that is till being hidden i will bet my life on that, what ever they say the situation is you can guess that it is atleast triple what they are admitting to.

Bit by bit more seeps out and I am talking about truthful information not toxic water.

There is much much more that is till being hidden i will bet my life on that, what ever they say the situation is you can guess that it is atleast triple what they are admitting to.

I agree that the contaminated water problem is escalating now almost out of control. An anonymous Tepco official has already confessed to the NYTimes that this more than likely has been going on from the beginning. They built the darn thing over an aquifer for heaven's sake where water from the mountains inland flow to the sea underground. There are never going to be enough tanks so it is either quiet 'leaks' and look the other way (that saturate the soil and eventually make the site unworkable) or a planned release of water that is going to be increasingly politically difficult.

You can kiss goodbye to Tokyo Olympics, says the former Japanese ambassador to Switzerland.

In a letter to the UN secretary general, Mitsuhei Murata says the official radiation figures published by Tepco cannot be trusted. He says he is extremely worried about the lack of a sense of crisis in Japan and abroad.

This view is shared by Mycle Schneider, who is calling for an international taskforce for Fukushima.

"The Japanese have a problem asking for help. It is a big mistake; they badly need it."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-23779561

I hope everyone here has an escape plan to the South.

November wait for the news in November, it's bad now but who is confident enough to trust TEPCO to safely remove 1500 fuel rods with no incident. It's a first, nobody has done this before. Let alone a two bit half arsed operator like TEPCO. I can bet that the senior management are planning their holidays for November.

Hatsoff took the words right out of my mouth.I have been thinking the very thing for the last 10 days or so. And because of this,Fukushima news is back in the international spot light. I have been wondering for over a year now what happened to CNN,BBC,etc.In the long run,this level 3 incident could turn out to be a good thing IF it wakes everyone up.I really don't see the watchdogs turning their heads for one second from here on out.I hope it will be impossible for Tepco and the JGov to deny and cover up anymore.I think the day of an international takeover of the situation is fast approaching.Maybe I'm dreaming here,but it's all I can cling onto at the moment.

Do you really believe we are now being told the whole story?

Not at all. Only what they are being forced to disclose by the recent increase in pressure.

I miss the Japan I used to believe in!

Absolutely. More than a few will share your sentiment.