Deadly Nuclear Levels Detected

[tekisui]

Source: Sydney Morning Herald

RADIATION levels that can prove fatal were detected outside reactor buildings at Japan’s Fukushima No.1 plant for the first time, complicating efforts to contain the worst disaster since Chernobyl in 1986.

Water in an underground trench outside the No.2 reactor had levels exceeding one sievert an hour, a spokesman for plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Company said.

Thirty minutes’ exposure to that dose would trigger nausea and four hours might lead to death within two months, according to the US Environmental Protection Agency.

Preventing the most-contaminated water from leaking into the ground or air is key to containing the spread of radiation beyond the plant.

more: http://www.smh.com.au/world/deadly-nuclear-levels-detected-20110328-1cddw.html

[LiberalEsto]

1. And where do they think they're going to put it all?

There is going to be a hell of a lot of contaminated water, soil and other things, and no safe place to put them.

[thewiseguy]

2. How much water? Where is it coming from? Where is it going?

Why the F are the Japanese being so quiet about all of this?

[hayu_lol]

3. This is probably salt water that has flowed off the hot containment vessel and/or...

spilled as the changeover from cooling salt water to fresh water takes place. Sodium and other chemicals in salt water quickly pick up stray neutrons(escaping perhaps from steam venting)and become very 'hot.'

Dr Bill Wattenberg(KGO-San Francisco)said last night that the changeover from salt water to fresh water is what is urgent now. Best to flush the salt water to sea as quickly as possible. As to the radiation levels in the ocean...he said to go out about 10 miles and you would find 'normal' radiation levels.

Bill is the physicist, I am merely repeating what I heard.

[Bonobo]

4. What gives you the impression they are being quiet?

Updates and numbers come daily.

Or do you mean the fact that people are still behaving calmly?

[Junkdrawer]

5. Even the Union of Concerned Scientists are complaining about the data:

IAEA Data Appear to Show Increased Ground Contamination. Why Doesn’t the IAEA Just Say So?

It’s difficult to make any sense of the data being reported from various quarters regarding dose rates and contamination levels at varying distances from the Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear plant.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) could do a public service by establishing a consistent reporting framework so the public can assess whether radionuclide release rates are changing, and in what direction. However, its daily updates are only adding to the confusion.

Today, the daily update appears to show a significant upward trend in reported contamination levels. However, because it is not clear exactly where the measurements are being taken, one cannot do an apples-to-apples comparison.

For instance, in its March 27 update the IAEA reports that the highest level of daily deposition of iodine-131 was measured on March 26 at 7,500 becquerels per square meter (Bq/sq. m) in Yamagata prefecture; for cesium-137, it was reported as 1,200 Bq/sq. m. (Actually, the statement does not make clear if these are daily rates or total cumulative deposition levels, although from the context it appears to be the former.)

...

It would also be helpful if the IAEA provided some insight to the relationship between measured beta-gamma levels and the much lower reported I-131 and Cs-137 deposition rates. Many short-lived isotopes have already decayed away. However, the reported beta-gamma rates were significantly lower than 3.1 MBq/sq. m even on March 21. This indicates continued high levels of deposition that cannot be explained by the reported deposition rates of I-131 and Cs-137.

The IAEA data would be much more useful if it also provided enough detail to allow apples-to-apples comparisons from one day to the next.

http://allthingsnuclear.org/post/4143610830/iaea-data-appear-to-show-increased-ground#

[Bonobo]

6. Sounds like they are making suggestions, not arguing that anything is being hidden. nt