Radiation levels of several dozens of sieverts possible near No. 2 reactor + much more

[stockholmer]

Source: Asahi Shimbun News Japan

"High levels of radiation discovered at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant could disrupt Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s timeline for a cold shutdown of the crippled facility, TEPCO officials acknowledged.

On April 18 unexpectedly high levels of radiation were detected in water in the storage pool containing spent fuel rods in the No. 2 reactor, the officials said.

TEPCO officials believe the radiation may have been triggered by damage to the spent fuel rods. One possibility being looked at is the damage was caused by debris falling into the pool when the Great East Japan Earthquake struck on March 11.

snip

At the No. 2 reactor, holes have opened in the suppression pool connected to the containment vessel so repairs will be needed before the No. 2 reactor can be submerged. However, there is the possibility that radiation levels of several dozens of sieverts are present near the suppression pool. Such levels would lead to immediate health problems for workers...................."

Read more: http://www.asahi.com/english/TKY201104190193.html

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"immediate health problems for workers"? Try 100% death rate within days.



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MORE ARTICLES


TEPCO official describes possible meltdown at No. 1 reactor: The “molten fuel accumulates like lava”

http://enenews.com/tepco-official-describes-possible-meltdown-at-no-1-reactor-the-molten-fuel-accumulates-like-lava

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http://blogs.knoxnews.com/munger/2011/03/ex-sandia-engineer-talks-about.html

Nuke Expert: “It’ll be like somebody dropped a bomb” if melted fuel rods breach reactor vessel — “A big cloud of very, very radioactive material above the ground”

If workers are unable to get additional cooling water into the reactor vessel, the molten fuel core will collapse into the water in bottom of the vessel. Eventually the heat from the decaying fuel would boil away the water that’s left, leaving the core sitting on the vessel’s lower head made of steel. Should that happen, “It’ll melt through it like butter,” Allen said.

That, in turn, would cause a “high-pressure melt injection” into the water-filled concrete cavity below the reactor. Because the concrete would likely be unheated, the reaction created by the sudden injection of the reactor’s ultra-hot content would be immense, he said.

“It’ll be like somebody dropped a bomb, and there’ll be a big cloud of very, very radioactive material above the ground,” Allen said, noting that it would contain uranium and plutonium, as well as the fission products......................"

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http://enenews.com/highest-78-pcil-iodine-131-found-raw-milk-san-francisco-bay-area

San Francisco Bay Area milk shows highest Iodine-131 found in U.S. since the Fukushima crisis began.

UCB Milk Sampling Results, University of California, Berkeley Department of Nuclear Engineering: http://www.nuc.berkeley.edu/node/2174


UCB Statement: “4/19/2011 7:45pm… we added two raw milk samples from local Bay Area dairy farmers.”

2.9 Bq/l = 78.378 pCi/l (conversion calculator http://www.radprocalculator.com/Conversion.aspx )



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http://enenews.com/fukushima-forecast-series-radiation-clouds-hit-west-coast-beginning-april-24-video

Fukushima Forecast: Series of radiation clouds to hit US West Coast beginning April 24 (VIDEO)


http://transport.nilu.no/products/fukushima

[PearliePoo2]

1. WHY does the map heading say "Potental releases???

Is this a map showing where the radiation could go IF there was another release or has another release IN FACT HAPPENED AND IT'S ON ITS WAY??

[stranger81]

19. What do you mean by "another release"?

It's never stopped releasing radioactivity since March 11.

[PearliePoo2]

21. I was thinking of the big hydrogen explosion in March that blew a hole

in the roof of the plant.
I think it's generally accepted that the bigger the explosion, the greater the likelihood of radiation plumes getting a high altitude and global jet-stream transport.
I believe (but not 100% certain) that the present, constant releases do not carry as far and tend to be more localized. :shrug:

[yawnmaster]

2. guess I'll have to cut my milk intake to under 1900 liters...

Which is how much I'd have to drink to equal the radiation from one cross country airline trip.

[flamingdem]

5. Ingestion is nothing like external exposure, don't you know that by now?

This is important information for nursing moms and for young children

[yawnmaster]

9. Yes, thats the latest mantra. The levels shown won't even hurt you internally...

so I have to drink 800 liters not 1900.
still not worried.

[flamingdem]

13. Wrong. It takes very little to impact the thyroid, esp. in womb, stop with the dishonesty!

[flamingdem]

15. Exposure to radioactive iodine in pregnancy = abnormalities

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9441552

Abstract

The embryonal stage in mammalians is characterized by a quick proliferation and differentiation of cells. The special features of this stage of development in all living beings is therefore an increased sensitivity for the exposure with ionizing radiation. Radiation exposure during the prenatal development can therefore lead to various impairments, which can be short-termed or long-termed, showing effects even in the postnatal period. The pattern of radiation induced effects is dependent upon the radiation dose on the one hand and upon the stage of fetal development when radiation exposure occurs on the other hand. Radiation induced effects can be growth retardation, malformations, functional impairments or death as well as increased occurrence of cancer and leukemia during childhood. The main effects of a radiation exposure in the fetal period are: 1) lethal effects for the embryo, 2) malformations and changes in growth or other functional changes, 3) mental retardation, 4) induction of malignomas including leukemia. Lethal effects can be induced experimentally in animals by relatively low radiation doses of 10 cGy, administered before or immediately after the implantation of the embryo. Malformations can be induced if the exposure occurs during the period of organogenesis especially if the radiation exposure occurs during the active stage of increased cell formation and cell differentiation of a specific organ. For many types of effects of ionizing radiation especially for the death of the embryo or fetus and for macroscopic anatomical malformation a dose-effect relationship with certain threshold doses can be supposed. This threshold dose is not smaller than 5 cGy if the exposure results from a low level radiation with low LET> Radiation exposure at the end of the organogenesis and during the following fetal period can induce growth retardation and functional disturbances, which are characterized by abnormalities in the postnatal period. Of special importance are the abnormalities of the CNS, like mental retardation particularly if the radiation exposure occurred during the interval between the 8th and 15th week of pregnancy. During that time period cell formation for the development of the frontal brain occurs. The induction of this type of abnormalities as well as of other malformations is due to non stochastic effects. A threshold dose of 5 cGy ist discussed. The induction of malignancies and leukemia as a consequence of a radiation exposure in the prenatal period is to be seen as a deterministic (non stochastic) radiation effect. The sensitivity of the fetus for these effects ist 2 to 3 times higher than that of adults.

[yawnmaster]

28. Stop The HYPE!!! I'd have to drink 15 MILLION liters of milk to receive near that dose...

And I couldn't drink it fast enough to meet any decay/time requirement.
yes 15,000,000 liters.
Do you know the size of a cGy?
1Gy = 100 rad. 1 rem = 1 rad x Q
1cGy = 0.01 Gy
1cGy is between 1 rem and 20 rem depending on the "quality" of the radiation source.
5cGy is between 5 and 100 rem
that's 5000 - 100000 mrem.

Milk samples from
http://www.nuc.berkeley.edu/node/2174

To compare
1 coast to coast flight is about 1.5 mrems (3000 flights to receive 5cGy and that's not even completely accurate as I'd be absorbing the dose over as long as it takes me to take 1500 round trips (about 2 years of non-stop travel).
it would take me 28 years to drink enough milk to be exposed to 5cGy at 1 liter/MINUTE!

Alright, a fetus is 3 times more sensitive...I'll just keep babies and pregnant women from drinking more than say, and lets be safe, 1 million liters of milk.

[DCKit]

10. Yes, important for mothers and infants, but I'm kind'a fond of my thyroid gland too. nt

[buddysmellgood]

3. What I don't hear anyone saying is that if the radiation is too high,

workers can't cool the reactors. If we can't cool the reactors, they WILL melt down. It seems the media is dancing around this and instead saying, "oh it will be 6-9 months to cool it down."

[kestrel91316]

4. Sieverts per second? Sieverts per year? I don't understand how

they can talk about sieverts of exposure without also talking about the time frame in which that much radiation is delivered......

It makes a difference, you know....

[Poll_Blind]

6. Usually it's given as "per hour" and that's the default, generally.

FWIW.

PB

[stockholmer]

7. per hour n/t

[thereismore]

12. Yes, my fave peeve too, also. nt

[ReturnoftheDjedi]

18. so we should probably just discount it, huh?

[PVnRT]

25. Not what was asked

With radiation, exposure time and rates mean everything, not just blanket statements about "dozens of sieverts." It's a legitimate question and gripe with how the media reports on this.

[PearliePoo2]

8. Also from the asahi article..........

Meanwhile, NISA officials on April 18 for the first time publicly admitted that some of the fuel rods in the No. 1 to No. 3 reactor cores had melted in the wake of the March 11 quake and tsunami.

NISA officials had alluded to the possibility of a melting of the fuel rods, especially after hydrogen explosions rocked the No. 1 to No. 3 reactors. However, no NISA official had actually stated that some of the fuel rods had melted until April 18.

NISA officials said that based on an analysis of the radioactive material collected and their radiation concentration, there has likely occurred a melting of the fuel pellets contained within the fuel rods.

[dixiegrrrrl]

17. I find Arnie Gunderson is an excellent source of info, he updates every couple days.

Here is his most recent info video. He tells what is happening, what it means, what COULD be a problem. Most of what he has said in the past has become reality at the plants.

http://vimeo.com/22586794

[robdogbucky]

20. Is that the same admission as reflected in this article?

Agency admits 'melting' of N-fuel
The Yomiuri Shimbun

The Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency has reported to a Cabinet Office safety panel that nuclear fuel pellets in the Nos. 1 to 3 reactors at the quake-hit Fukushima power station are believed to have partially melted.

The report was the first time the agency, an organ of the Economy, Trade and Industry Ministry, has acknowledged that nuclear fuel has melted at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant...

...The agency said it now believes the fuel pallets have melted because of the high levels of radiation detected at the Nos. 2 and 3 reactors. Melting fuel pellets also likely led to a hydrogen explosion at the No. 1 reactor, Nishiyama said. Tokyo Electric Power Co., the operator of the crippled plant, has said the cores of the Nos. 1 to 3 reactors have been damaged by 25 percent to 70 percent. But the agency emphasized that these figures are only estimates.

"We can't say for sure about how much has melted until the rods are actually taken out," Nishiyama said.

(Apr. 20, 2011)


http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/T110419004267.htm

[PearliePoo2]

23. sure sounds like it....

but I didn't see THIS included: "We can't say for sure about how much has melted until the rods are actually taken out," Nishiyama said.

[thereismore]

11. Great summary, much appreciated! nt

[thereismore]

14. Luckily, Xe is an inert gas, so it does not bind to anything inside a human body, so no

permanent, localized, irradiation danger. It's the Cs that's the worst of these.

[dixiegrrrrl]

16. That radiation comparison chart is extremely helpful. Thank you!

[truebrit71]

22. Don't forget the salt to swallow as well as the iodine...

...TEPCO hasn't been trustworthy up to this point, no reason to believe they've found religion recently...this thing WILL get worse..and they will continue to downplay it...

[aquart]

24. What salt?

[truebrit71]

26. The pinch of salt necessary to believe anything they say..

..

[crickets]

27. kicking