Very high radiation index at Fukushima

Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) operates the Fukushima nuclear power plant No. 1 on August 31, indicating that it has measured very high radioactivity at some radioactive water containers and a pipeline, indicating that the possibility of contaminated water leaking.

According to TEPCO, the highest radiation index has just been detected up to 1,800 millisievert (mSv) an hour in one of the containers, a dose that can be fatal if exposed for 4 hours.

The Kyodo news agency added that these radioactive hot spots were discovered on August 31 during a routine daily inspection at 3 containers and a pipeline connecting the tanks to the damaged area. nuclear disaster. The radioactive index measured under this pipe is 230mSv per hour. An TEPCO official said it was impossible to rule out the possibility of new leaks at the containers, but no containers showed clear water levels.

Experts investigating the surface of a container where there is a leak of about 300 tons of radioactive water at the Fukushima nuclear power plant No. 1. (Photo: ajw.asahi.com)

TEPCO is dealing with large amounts of contaminated water after using water to cool destroyed reactors. Anyone exposed to this contaminated water within an hour will be exposed to the same amount of radiation that a nuclear plant worker in Japan will be exposed to for five years.

Last week, TEPCO admitted that 300 tons of contaminated water leaked from some contaminated water containers in nearly 1,000 Fukushima containers. This raises the concern that contaminated water may have followed the drainage system flowing into the Pacific Ocean.

This is the most serious leak since the three reactors of the plant were melted after the 2011 earthquake-tsunami disaster. On August 28, Japan Nuclear Regulatory Authority (NRA) ) decided to raise the rating of the serious situation of this incident to level 3 in the International Alert on Nuclear Incident (INES).

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has asked Japan to explain the leak. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe pledged his government would play a bigger role in ending the leak of contaminated water and not letting TEPCO handle it on its own.