Fukushima - latest news

LATEST HEADLINES

• VIDEO: US states hit with “extremely large peaks” of Fukushima radioactive material – “Significant amount” of plutonium released for months – Radioactivity from plant “measured globally” and blanketed entire Northern Hemisphere
  
  
  
• “Unprecedented”: Fukushima reactor “far worse than previously thought” — “Melted fuel has come in contact with underground water” — Molten core appears spread over “extensive area” — Japan “will have a much more difficult time decommissioning” — Official: “It’s a very big turning point” (VIDEO)
  
  
  
• Breaking: Nuclear fuel found “beneath containment vessel” at Fukushima plant? — Parts inside reactor “no longer there” — “Search barely begun for fuel that burned through” — Workers probe underwater below plant for molten cores (PICS & VIDEO)
  
  
  
• Gov’t declares “disaster” over diseased and dying fish on US West Coast — “Sudden, unexpected large decreases” in population — Scientists “mystified… stumped” — Officials: “Environmental disaster… Devastating… Alarming… Dire” (VIDEO)
  
  
  
• Experts: US hit with sudden spikes of rare radioactive material from Fukushima — Has 15.7 Million year half life — “Orders of magnitude” rise in levels on West Coast — Much higher amounts than were detected near Fukushima plant just after 3/11
  

This actually worries me a little. I already knew it was bad, but this is a new level of bad.  

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Quote :

The facility’s operator, Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco), said atmospheric readings as high as 530 sieverts an hour had been recorded inside the containment vessel of reactor No 2, one of three reactors that experienced a meltdown when the plant was crippled by a huge tsunami that struck the north-east coast of Japan in March 2011.
The extraordinary radiation readings highlight the scale of the task confronting thousands of workers, as pressure builds on Tepco to begin decommissioning the plant – a process that is expected to take about four decades.
The recent reading, described by some experts as “unimaginable”, is far higher than the previous record of 73 sieverts an hour in that part of the reactor.

For comparison I looked up the radiation levels during the Chernobyl accident.

This means the situation at Fukushima is like at least 2 Chernobyls at once, all the time, not just one explosion. And it is getting worse.

Radiation levels Chernobyl(wiki)

Approximate radiation intensity levels at different locations at Chernobyl reactor site shortly after the explosion are shown in the below table.^[64] A dose of 500 roentgens (~5 Sv) delivered over five hours is usually lethal for human beings.
[th]Location[/th][th]Radiation (roentgens per hour)[/th][th]Sieverts per hour (SI Unit)[/th]

Vicinity of the reactor core	30,000	300
Fuel fragments	15,000–20,000	150–200
Debris heap at the place of circulation pumps	10,000	100
Debris near the electrolyzers	5,000–15,000	50–150
Water in the Level +25 feedwater room	5,000	50