Wall Street Journal quotes NISA spokesman refering to 1 sievert (1,000 millisieverts)

[bananas]

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704474804576225761850473374.html

JAPAN NEWS
MARCH 27, 2011, 2:34 A.M. ET

Radiation Jumps Inside Japan Nuclear Plant
By ANDREW MONAHAN

TOKYO—Highly toxic levels of radioactivity, up to 10 million times the normal level for reactor cooling systems, have been discovered at least two units of the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, government nuclear safety officials said Sunday, the latest setback to efforts to restore the plant's cooling and control systems.

The very high level of 1,000 millisieverts, is "a rather large figure," said Hidehiko Nishiyama, spokesman for Japan's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency.

He said that the level of radioactivity was likely from the core of the reactor but said that they had not yet determined by what means the water was leaking. The water could have come from a breach in the system or from somewhere in the pipes that carry cooling water to and from the reactor.

<snip>

[bananas]

1. Bloomberg: 1,000 millisieverts per hour

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-03-27/radiation-surge-at-japan-nuclear-plant-halting-work-at-reactor.html

Radiation Surge at Japan Nuclear Plant, Halting Work at Reactor
March 27, 2011, 2:45 AM EDT
By Yuji Okada, Naoko Fujimura and Yee Kai Pin

March 27 (Bloomberg) -- Radiation in water at Japan’s stricken nuclear plant reached potentially lethal levels, forcing repairs to stop at one of the reactors as the world’s worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl entered its third week.

The water in the Fukushima Dai-Ichi No. 2 reactor’s turbine building was measured at more than 1,000 millisieverts per hour, Japan’s nuclear safety agency said today. That’s higher than the dose that would cause vomiting, hair loss and diarrhea, according to the World Nuclear Association. Repeated exposure may lift fatal cancer incidence by 5 percentage points.

“That’s very high -- the normal radiation level that we receive over a year is about four millisieverts,” said Stephen Lincoln, a nuclear power and uranium specialist at the University of Adelaide. “When you’re getting up to a 1,000 millisieverts this is a really rather large leakage.”

<snip>

The radiation levels at the No. 2 reactor were about 10 million times higher than normal operating conditions, according to Japanese public broadcaster NHK.

<snip>

[kristopher]

2. "this is a really rather large leakage."

Mr. Lincoln is a man really rather given to understatement, isn't he?

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[Paradoxical]

6. 1 Sv per hour is survivable. As long as you aren't there for more than an hour.

Anyone exposed to a Sv is going to become violently ill. But it might not become apparent right away.

In fact, depending on dosage, the victim can enter what is referred to as the "walking dead" stage where symptoms are latent for hours or even days.

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[xchrom]

9. recommend

[SidDithers]

10. Unrec...

See threads now confirming a measuring error.

Sid

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

11. What's the revised figure?

[SidDithers]

12. See bonobo's thread for latest...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x750991

Sid

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

14. Already seen it. No revised figure.

As pointed out in that thread, in order to say the figure was a mistake there must be another opposing(revised) number.

In lieu of a revised figure, it's unclear whether a mistake has been made, or not.

[PA Democrat]

13. I am listening to NHK live TV and the latest is that Tepco is saying they believe the

reading of 1,000 millisieverts per hour in the area where the water was found at Reactor #2 to be correct. They had initially released readings on the concentration of Iodine 134 in the water (2.9 Becquerel per cc) and now they suspect that it is NOT Iodine 134 but a different radioactive isotope with a longer half-life.

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/index.html

Updated to add more info

[formercia]

15. Gamma Ray Spectrometer

will not only tell what's in there but give the experts an indication of what the fissionable material is up to.

NEST has small portable units that can be carried on the person.

[bananas]

16. Yes, they believe the 1sv is correct, this thread should not have been unrecced. nt