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Concerns raised over storage of radioactive water at Japan nuclear plant, AP says

TOKYO (TR) – Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant is running out of space to store contaminated cooling water, Associated Press said, citing a manager at the plant.

TEPCO engineers set up a system to process and recycle water used to cool the reactors core after the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami that devastated the facility. The power utility has since built hundreds of additional tanks to handle groundwater that is seeping through cracks in the facility.

“It’s a pressing issue because our land is limited,” Yuichi Okamura, the water-treatment manager at the site said, according to AP. TEPCO is readying a new treatment system it hopes to have online soon to render contaminated water safe and allow it to be released into the ocean.

AP cited university lecturer and nuclear engineer Masashi Goto as expressing concern over the long-term health and environmental threats posed by the water buildup. He is worried radioactive water from the facility may already be contaminating groundwater, according to the news agency.