Japanese Nuclear Regulation Authority Declares Fukushima Leak an Emergency Dylan Duarte August 5, 2013 Extras It’s been well over two years since a 9.0 earthquake and subsequent tsunami rocked Japan and caused major damage to the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. Cleanup has been a long and difficult process and now a new problem has arisen: highly radioactive water has leaked into the Pacific Ocean. The problem was announced a few weeks ago and now the Japan Nuclear Regulation Authority has declared the situation an emergency. According to the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), the radioactive water has been confined to a man-made harbor, which has been injected with chemicals designed to harden the soil and contain the leak. However, the NRA has said that TEPCO is “struggling” in their duties and that their “sense of crisis is weak.” The fear now is that the irradiated water will either eventually flow over the top of the man-made harbor or that the harbor itself will give way; either way, the water will then leak out into the open ocean and maybe into nearby communities. Japanese newspapers have speculated that this leak could happen within three weeks. The NRA have disagreed but not released a timeline of their own. via The Verge Share This With The World!