On Friday, Japanese officials revealed there may be a breach at the core of one of six nuclear reactors at the Fukushima Dai-ichi facility.
Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan says: "The situation today at the Fukushima Dai-ichi power plant is still very grave and serious. We must remain vigilant. We are not in a position where we can be optimistic. We must treat every development with the utmost care."
A breach to a reactor containment vessel implies there could be a much greater release of radiation than has happened so far, as the plant has been been leaking low levels of radiation for two weeks now.
If the reactor vessel was breached, it will be that much harder to contain radioactive contaminants, as the radioactive steam inside the pressure vessel could leak into the air. If the reactor suffers a partial meltdown, liquefied nuclear fuel could also escape.
The Prime Minister also took time to apologize to farmers and business owners for the damages to their livlihood noting how more than a few countries have halted some food imports from areas near the plant after milk and produce were found to contain elevated levels of radiation.
The Prime Minister also thanked utility workers, firefighters and military personnel for "risking their lives" to cool the overheated facility.
Also on Friday, Hidehiko Nishiyama, Deputy Director-General of the Japan Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency, noted that three workers entered the turbine building at the Fukushima Dai-ichi No. 3 reactor and accidentally stepped in water that was highly radioactive. Despite being covered in radiation suits with the edges tapes down, water seeped in. The workers suffered burns and were hospitalized. The Japanese newspaper, the Asahi Shinbun said that water was 10,000 times more radioactive than it would normally be.
According to officials from Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPC, who own and operate the nuclear facility)and the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency, the water had 3.9 million becquerels of radioactive substances per cubic centimeter. So far the highest level of contamination in seawater near the plant was 3.21 becquerels per cubic centimeter. A becquerel (Bq) is a unit of radioactivity that measures the number of decay events per second.
Radioactive elements like Cobalt-60, Iodine-131, Cesium-137 and other substances which do not normally exist in cooling water, were also found. Because Cesium was found in the water--as it is not usually present in the reactor cooling water--it suggests there was a leak in the reactor vessel, though it might have come from the spent fuel rods that are stored in the reactor buildings.
Fukushima Dai-ichi Reactor No. 3 uses a mixed oxide (MOX) fuel, consisting of uranium oxide and plutonium oxide, and is much more radioactive and toxic than traditional uranium oxide fuel. It is the only reactor at this six-reactor plant facility to use that particular blend of fuel. The water may have been contaminated by the fuel rods, but some experts think that may not be the case, because the water near the reactor vessel is in a different building from the turbines.
The No. 3 reactor was damaged by a Hydrogen explosion on March 14, 2011 after the cooling system failed. The cooling system at all six reactors was put out of action when a tsunami hit the power plant and flooded the room containing the generators that power the water pumps.
In an attempt to cool the reactors, TEPCO workers filled the cooling system with seawater. Seawater is corrosive, and may have contributed to leaks in the cooling system. There are several places where contaminated water could come from, officials said, and it is not clear where the water the workers were exposed to came from.
Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan says: "The situation today at the Fukushima Dai-ichi power plant is still very grave and serious. We must remain vigilant. We are not in a position where we can be optimistic. We must treat every development with the utmost care."
A breach to a reactor containment vessel implies there could be a much greater release of radiation than has happened so far, as the plant has been been leaking low levels of radiation for two weeks now.
If the reactor vessel was breached, it will be that much harder to contain radioactive contaminants, as the radioactive steam inside the pressure vessel could leak into the air. If the reactor suffers a partial meltdown, liquefied nuclear fuel could also escape.
The Prime Minister also took time to apologize to farmers and business owners for the damages to their livlihood noting how more than a few countries have halted some food imports from areas near the plant after milk and produce were found to contain elevated levels of radiation.
The Prime Minister also thanked utility workers, firefighters and military personnel for "risking their lives" to cool the overheated facility.
Also on Friday, Hidehiko Nishiyama, Deputy Director-General of the Japan Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency, noted that three workers entered the turbine building at the Fukushima Dai-ichi No. 3 reactor and accidentally stepped in water that was highly radioactive. Despite being covered in radiation suits with the edges tapes down, water seeped in. The workers suffered burns and were hospitalized. The Japanese newspaper, the Asahi Shinbun said that water was 10,000 times more radioactive than it would normally be.
According to officials from Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPC, who own and operate the nuclear facility)and the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency, the water had 3.9 million becquerels of radioactive substances per cubic centimeter. So far the highest level of contamination in seawater near the plant was 3.21 becquerels per cubic centimeter. A becquerel (Bq) is a unit of radioactivity that measures the number of decay events per second.
Radioactive elements like Cobalt-60, Iodine-131, Cesium-137 and other substances which do not normally exist in cooling water, were also found. Because Cesium was found in the water--as it is not usually present in the reactor cooling water--it suggests there was a leak in the reactor vessel, though it might have come from the spent fuel rods that are stored in the reactor buildings.
Fukushima Dai-ichi Reactor No. 3 uses a mixed oxide (MOX) fuel, consisting of uranium oxide and plutonium oxide, and is much more radioactive and toxic than traditional uranium oxide fuel. It is the only reactor at this six-reactor plant facility to use that particular blend of fuel. The water may have been contaminated by the fuel rods, but some experts think that may not be the case, because the water near the reactor vessel is in a different building from the turbines.
The No. 3 reactor was damaged by a Hydrogen explosion on March 14, 2011 after the cooling system failed. The cooling system at all six reactors was put out of action when a tsunami hit the power plant and flooded the room containing the generators that power the water pumps.
In an attempt to cool the reactors, TEPCO workers filled the cooling system with seawater. Seawater is corrosive, and may have contributed to leaks in the cooling system. There are several places where contaminated water could come from, officials said, and it is not clear where the water the workers were exposed to came from.
