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Extreme levels of radiation detected at Fukushima No. 1 reactor

fukushima-extreme-radiation-february-2017

According to Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco), the radiation level in the containment vessel of reactor 2 at the damaged Fukushima No.1 nuclear power plant nuclear complex has reached a maximum of 530 sieverts per hour which is the highest recorded level since the triple core meltdown in March 2011.

The reading means a person could die from even brief exposure, highlighting the difficulties ahead as the government and Tepco grope their way toward dismantling all three reactors that melted down in the March 2011 nuclear disaster, the Kyodo News reported.

Tepco announced the finding on Thursday, February 2, 2017, and added that based on an image analysis, a 1 m2 (10 ft2) hole has been found on a metal grating beneath the reactor pressure vessel.

The iron scaffolding has a melting point of 1 500 °C ( 2 732 °F), the company said. There is a possibility the fuel debris has fallen onto it and burnt the hole. Such fuel debris have been discovered on equipment at the bottom of the pressure vessel just above the hole.

The presence of dangerously high radiation will complicate efforts to safely dismantle the plant, but the radiation is not leaking outside the reactor, Tepco said.

In today's news conference, Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry said that confirming the conditions inside the reactor is the first step toward decommissioning. “While difficult tasks and unexpected matters may arise, we will mobilize all of Japan’s technological capabilities to steadily implement decommissioning work and rebuild Fukushima."

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The searing radiation level, described by some experts as “unimaginable,” far exceeds the previous high of 73 sieverts per hour at the reactor, according to The Japan Times.

National Institute of Radiological Sciences said medical professionals have never considered dealing with this level of radiation in their work.

4 sieverts of radiation exposure would kill 1 in 2 people while 1 Sievert could lead to infertility, loss of hair and cataracts. A dose of about 8 sieverts is considered incurable and fatal.

Tepco said it calculated the figure of 530 sieverts by analyzing the electronic noise in the camera images caused by the radiation. This estimation method has a margin of error of +/- 30%, it said.

Featured image credit: TEPCO via KYODO

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10 Comments

  1. Thinking along Isaac’s line that we are going to crash AGAIN and repeat the Gobekli Tepe sites where the guys that went high up and saved their lung alveoli thus as the Framingham study showed, were able to live long, came down from the mount with seeds to be the giving gods to the feeble few.

  2. triple meltdown yes, but no-one ever mentions anymore that one of these 3 reactors was running on plutonium and when they all melted down one of them just liquified and melted through………guess which one that was ???
    yup you got it, plutonium runs much hotter than uranium and is 100,000 times more deadly and lasts 100,000 times longer. that is why no-one mentions this, there is no simple solution to this problem while our world leaders keep ignoring the hundreds of free energy devices that have been invented over the past 100 years, many of these devices can be used to clean up this disaster quickly and eficiently but that would meen giving the worlds population FREE energy………theres the problem…..they would rather make the world become a sterile poisoned rock devoid of life, than let us have FREE energy and infinite positive possibilities for all life on earth.
    only demons would think like that

    1. well said. but what now? it amazes me how this hasn’t caught on in a global outcry…i think we’ve accepted our extinction…these people have been pushing that agenda since day one of their existence…the planet works in mysterious ways…it’s a shame, though, about all the other life forms…that’s what bothers me the most…if we feel bad for the innocents of our own species, think about how that reflects on all the life forms that had nothing to do with our tech, that will also be extinguished…

  3. It is proof when they say don’t worry everything is under control, they are full of it and lying. What is going on at the Cern super collyder and what is it they don’t know. Stephen Hawkins has warned us against such theoretical experiments, once again they don’t know, but when they screw up, we will have to deal with it.

    With the approach of Nibiru affecting our volcanoes, earthquakes, and magnetic field of the earth should would not error on the side of precaution and do shut down of all while we still can???? Proof of all these quakes and volcanoes is everywhere with increasing intensity, numbers of, and magnitude. AT A CERTAIN POINT WE WILL NOT BE ABLE TO CONTROL OR SHUT THEM DOWN AND THEY ARE ALL BUILT ON MASSIVE EARTH QUAKE FAULT LINES.

    NO, LETS ERROR ON THE SIDE OF PROFIT (FUKUSHIMA) AND LET THEM KEEP RUNNING UNTIL WE HAVE 1,000 FUKUSHIMA’S. WITH WHAT WE KNOW, ALL SHOULD BE SHUT DOWN AND RUN ON COAL OR OTHER SUPPLY SOURCES. WE ALL MAY HAVE TO CONSERVE ELECTRICITY, BUT NO ONE IS IN CONTROL OR GUIDING THE SHIP. WE WOULD ALL HELP IF WE KNEW HOW, BUT OUR LEADERS ARE IN DENIAL AND DOING NOTHING EXCEPT PREPARING TO COVER THEIR OWN BUTTS!

    1. almost 20 years ago? Try almost 6 years ago. It is even stated in the article “March 2011”. But they aren’t telling the whole truth about the extent of the contamination. That melt down killed the Pacific Ocean and is slowly killing the rest of the Earth. They need to shut down all these nuclear power plants. The dangers far outweigh the benefits.

      1. not to be a pessimist…but it would seem like it’s already too late for that. i would enjoy every moment i could if i were the rest of you. but, then again, i didn’t have children b/c i knew these days would come. it was pretty obvious to me, when i found out what the cuba missile crisis was about(i was juuuuust too young to be paying attention to a news that almost NEVER had anything to do with me. but i could tell the larger people(adults would be giving them too much credit) were pretty scared. and when they lied to me, i KNEW something was up. i just didn’t find out exactly what till a few years later in school. and i knew then, at 15yo, that humanity would not survive all that long…we just weren’t mature enough to be playing with this sort of fire…

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