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Podcasts Take Two
Fukushima toxic water leak may get upgraded to 'serious incident'
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This is an archival story that predates current editorial management.

This archival content was originally written for and published on KPCC.org. Keep in mind that links and images may no longer work — and references may be outdated.
Aug 21, 2013
Listen • 7:27
Fukushima toxic water leak may get upgraded to 'serious incident'
The water is so contaminated that standing 18 inches away from it for an hour would expose you to five times the amount of radiation that the average nuclear workers gets in a year. Japan's nuclear watchdog said today that it plans to dramatically raise the rating of the leak to a "serious incident".
Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) executive vice president Bungo Aizawa speaks before the press at TEPCO headquarters in Tokyo on August 21, 2013. Japan declared a radioactive water leak at the crippled TEPCO Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant a level-three 'serious incident', its highest warning in two years, as operators scrambled to seal a tank that has seeped 300 tons of toxic water.
Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) executive vice president Bungo Aizawa speaks before the press at TEPCO headquarters in Tokyo on August 21, 2013. Japan declared a radioactive water leak at the crippled TEPCO Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant a level-three 'serious incident', its highest warning in two years, as operators scrambled to seal a tank that has seeped 300 tons of toxic water.
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YOSHIKAZU TSUNO/AFP/Getty Images
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The water is so contaminated that standing 18 inches away from it for an hour would expose you to five times the amount of radiation that the average nuclear workers gets in a year. Japan's nuclear watchdog said today that it plans to dramatically raise the rating of the leak to a "serious incident".

Japan has struggled to contain the fallout from the nuclear disaster that struck Fukushima after the devastating earthquake and tsunami back in 2011. Reports emerged yesterday that 80,000 gallons of highly contaminated water have been leaking out of a storage tank.

The water is so contaminated that standing 18 inches away from it for an hour would expose you to five times the amount of radiation that the average nuclear workers gets in a year. Japan's nuclear watchdog said today that it plans to dramatically raise the rating of the leak to a "serious incident".

For more we're joined by Dr. Arjun Mahkijani  president of the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research.