Environment

Typhoons May Have Caused Fukushima Radiation Surge

Heavy rainfall from passing typhoons this month may be behind a record spike in groundwater radioactivity found in test wells drilled next to Japan’s crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant.

Samples taken next to three reactors that suffered meltdowns following the March 2011 earthquake-tsunami disaster showed an almost fourfold increase in particles such as strontium-90 within a four-day period.

The volume of isotopes such as cobalt-60 and manganese-54 also reached a record high, according to Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO).

This coincided with heavy rainfall from remnants of Typhoon Vongfong, which drenched much of Japan during the same period.

More powerful Typhoon Phanfone had passed over the Fukushima disaster zone during the previous week.

TEPCO said the increase in groundwater from the storms could have mixed with radioactive elements left in the soil after the meltdowns.