Blessings on NHK -they speak the truth, unvarnished; however briefly. Here's today's installment, and I'm going to insert my "translations"; from "Official Obfuscatory" to "Real-Speak". Remember, the direct link to the article won't work in a day or so.
Tokyo Electric Power Company has detected extremely high levels of radiation inside one of the crippled reactors of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.
TEPCO was able to place monitoring equipment directly inside the reactor for the first time since last year's accident.
A dosimeter lowered into the containment vessel of the No.2 reactor registered 72.9 sieverts, or 72,900 millisieverts per hour at maximum -- a level where a human is certain to die within about 7 minutes of exposure.
(Real-Speak: wow! nice! The radiation is so intense you will literally cook to death in 7 minutes; not thermally, but from pure gamma and beta radiation damage.)
The utility hopes to determine the state of the vessels as it moves to decommission the reactors.
(Real-Speak: Stay tuned for further very, very, slow publication of what we knew last year.)
It says radiation levels increased as the dosimeter was lowered inside the reactor. This suggests the nuclear fuel melted down and collected at the bottom of the vessel.
(Real-Speak: we knew the fuel was melted and in the bottom of the vessel about 4 days after the tsunami. Really.)
The utility also learned the water level inside the vessel was only 60 centimeters, compared to the original estimate of about 3 meters.
(Real-Speak: Ok, the company didn't KNOW that until now; but they suspected it, with a probability well over 70%)
TEPCO suspects the suppression chamber at the bottom of the vessel may have been destroyed.
(Real-Speak: TEPCO KNEW it had been destroyed in the first month after the tsunami.)
The findings are a setback for plans to scrap the reactor. The utility has to pinpoint and repair damaged parts inside the vessel and fill it with water before extracting the fuel.
(Real-Speak: The idea of "fill it with water" has been a pure fiction for public consumption from the outset- no matter how much water they pour in; it's been leaking out as fast as water goes through a gallon glass jug with the bottom completely cracked off, the whole time; and they know it.)
TEPCO says the development of devices that can withstand the extremely high levels of radiation is a pressing matter.
(Real-Speak: this reactor had the lowest level of radiation of the 3 (4) ; TEPCO knows the others are WORSE. Yeah, it's so bad that the toughest instruments we can find, or think up, are destroyed by the intense reactor-core radiation in just a few minutes. )
Wednesday, March 28, 2012 11:13 +0900 (JST)
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And in other radioactive news today, from NHK:
Fishing ban due to radioactive contamination
Radioactive contamination from the Fukushima nuclear accident is forcing fishermen in a neighboring prefecture to suspend catches of one of their fish.
Catches of Japanese sea bass are the first marine products of Miyagi Prefecture, north of Fukushima, to be suspended due to the nuclear accident.
Up to 360 becquerels of radioactive cesium were detected in sea bass hauls over the past 2 months off the coast of Miyagi.
Radioactive cesium levels in fish exceeded the stricter restrictions that will begin next month. This will be 100 becquerels per kilogram.
Miyagi Prefecture and fisheries cooperatives are considering asking fishers in the prefecture to voluntarily refrain from catching the fish.
2 other types of fish from the Miyagi coast have also exceeded the 100 becquerel level.
Wednesday, March 28, 2012 07:39 +0900 (JST)
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Bamboo shoot contamination detected
More radioactive contamination has been found in farm products for human consumption about 200 kilometers from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.
Authorities in a northern city of Chiba prefecture on Tuesday sampled bamboo shoots grown for food. They found contamination of up to 250 becquerels of radioactive cesium per kilogram. 180 becquerels of cesium was found in the bamboo shoots harvested in another northern city in the prefecture. Both locations are some 200 kilometers from the crippled nuclear plant.
The contamination levels are up to two-and-a-half times the government's new limit of 100 becquerels per kilogram, which goes into effect next month.
Prefectural officials also say 130 becquerels of cesium per kilogram was detected last week in a bamboo shoot in a third city.
The prefecture is asking farmers to refrain from shipping their bamboo shoots to customers.
The officials suspect radioactive cesium carried from Fukushima landed upon the leaves of the parent bamboo and was absorbed by the roots.
Wednesday, March 28, 2012 08:30 +0900 (JST)
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2 comments:
I appreciate that you are posting this stuff. It should be front page news, but of course....
But if the truth was published fully, as it should, then would big business be able to build new reactors Sal?
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