Pockets of high radiation remind of Fukushima plant danger
Debris is seen at Unit 3 of the tsunami-crippled Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station in Fukushima prefecture, in this picture taken on July 12 and released on August 1, 2011.
Credit: Reuters/Tokyo Electric Power Co/Handout
TOKYO |
TOKYO (Reuters) - Pockets of lethal levels of radiation have been detected at Japan's crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in a fresh reminder of the risks faced by workers battling to contain the worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl.
Plant operator Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco) reported on Monday that radiation exceeding 10 sieverts (10,000 millisieverts) per hour was found at the bottom of a ventilation stack standing between two reactors.
On Tuesday Tepco said it found another spot on the ventilation stack itself where radiation exceeded 10 sieverts per hour, a level that could lead to incapacitation or death after just several seconds of exposure.
The company used equipment to measure radiation from a distance and was unable to ascertain the exact level because the device's maximum reading is 10 sieverts.
While Tepco said the readings would not hinder its goal of stabilizing the Fukushima reactors by January, experts warned that worker safety could be at risk if the operator prioritized hitting the deadline over radiation risks.
"Radiation leakage at the plant may have been contained or slowed but it has not been sealed off completely. The utility is likely to continue finding these spots of high radiation," said Kenji Sumita, a professor at Osaka University who specializes in nuclear engineering.
"Considering this, recovery work at the plant should not be rushed to meet schedules and goals as that could put workers in harm's way. We are past the immediate crisis phase and some delays should be permissible."
Workers at Daiichi are only allowed to be exposed to 250 millisieverts of radiation per year.
Tepco, which provides power to Tokyo and neighboring areas, said it had not detected a sharp rise in overall radiation levels at the compound.
"The high dose was discovered in an area that doesn't hamper recovery efforts at the plant," Tepco spokesman Junichi Matsumoto told reporters on Tuesday.
Although it is still investigating the matter, Tepco said the spots of high radiation could stem from debris left behind by emergency venting conducted days after the March 11 earthquake and tsunami that crippled the plant.
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And Japanese beef that had been tainted and sold abroad cannot
be traced for recall, because the discovery came too late.
Those who like to brag about paying $60 a pound for Kobe beef:
Beware.
Far too close a relationship between the Japanese Government and the Japanese Electricity Company, TEPCO, resulted in endowing the electric company the authority of patrolling its own nuclear safety management. Of course, they placed profit first, and ignored early safety concern observations.
What I don’t understand is why nobody questions the reputation of high quality and safety of Japanese products despite repeated outrageous safety and security breaches in Japanese goods and services.
How about the irrefutable rise of accidents in Toyota cars(regardless of how Toyota presented unbelievable defenses by obviously very smart lawyers), and the repeated Sony security breaches. Just to name a few.
Scientists kept saying they will “learn from” Japan’s nuclear mistake. Learn how to be corrupt, and get away with blaming the problem on a multitude of sources, except the one reason that could have prevented it all, i.e., corruption.
The bare truth is: had they acted promptly on signs of potential problems, had they heeded the well known fact that just as large an earthquake and tsunami had previously occurred in exactly the same vicinity in Japanese history, no leak should have happened given our currently standard of scientific sophistication.
Interviews after interviews, I saw and heard, on TV, Japanese citizens questioning their government’s version of nuclear safety.
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