Image of the Day: Extremely High Radiation Levels at Main Exhaust Stack of Fukushima Unit 1/2
By Kyung Lah (CNN)
2 Aug 2011 TOKYO (CNN) – The operator of Japan’s crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant has detected the highest radiation levels at the facility since initial earthquake and tsunami five months ago, a company spokesman said Tuesday. The ultra-high levels of radiation were measured Monday afternoon on the grounds of the facility, near reactors 1 and 2, said spokesman Naoki Tsunoda. The lethal radiation was measured at the bottom of a ventilation tower. The radiation levels — 10,000 microsieverts per hour — are high enough that a single dose would be fatal to humans within weeks. The March 11 quake led to meltdowns at Fukushima Daiichi’s three operating reactors when the tsunami knocked out their coolant systems, causing the worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl.
Workers find ultra-high radiation levels at Fukushima Daiichi plant
By Sarah Dingle
2 August 2011 The company that owns Japan’s stricken Fukushima nuclear power plant says it has detected record-high radiation on site. Almost five months after Japan’s government announced a nuclear emergency, the company which owns the Fukushima nuclear plant, Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), says radiation levels have reached at least 10 sieverts per hour near Fukushima’s No. 1 and No. 2 reactors. The radiation levels are more than double the previous record high that was reached in early June. One nuclear expert predicts the clean-up from the March 11 earthquake and tsunami will be even more difficult, but there is speculation that the reading could be an aberration. Peter Burns, former chief executive officer of the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency, says given the scale of the Fukushima emergency, the high reading is to be expected. “The levels reported of 10 sieverts per hour are very high levels and it’s going to be very difficult to manage workers going into those areas and doing operations,” he said. “To put the 10 sieverts into context, that 10 sieverts is actually a lethal dose of radiation. So you can’t afford to be exposed for more than a few minutes at those levels. “It means you’re directly exposed to fuel rods in the reactors or the spent fuel ponds very closely and while it’s possible to get to those levels it means there is very little shielding going on there.” […]
