Here's an update on the nuclear problem at the Fukushima Dai-ichi facility. As you may be aware, electrical has been hooked up to four of the facilities after the earthquake (9.0 magnitude) and tsunami (10 metre high wave) damaged it back on March 11, 2011.
However, while attempting to keep the nuclear reactors cool due to the lack of electricity, workers had to pump sea water into the plant.
So, even after hoking up the electricity, workers had to pump out the sea water, or else there might be something called an electrical short... but a big one, which would shut cooling generators off, and thus allow the reactor core to heat up, melt down and thus explode. You can read about the science of the problem: HERE.
What is holding up the job of pumping out the water is the fact that workers of Tokyo Electric Company (TEPCO) have found water in places where there shouldn't be water - and not just sea water, but radioactive water.
The implication is clear, and Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano explains that the radioactive water found in reactor building No. 2 must have come into contact with nuclear fuel rods that were melting at one point. This implies a partial meltdown. Close to the big Ka-boom, folks. Very close.
The good news is that the melting process has stopped and pressures within the reactor have eased somewhat.
The bad news is that Edano says no one is sure how the radioactive water escaped from the reactor.
This means delays in getting the reactor(s) back online. Workers need to know if there is a containment unit leak around the core(s), need to continue the clean-up in the facility, and need to ensure all of the equipment is in excellent working order before turning it all back on to provide some relief to country facing power shortages.
But that's the least of their concerns. The reactor facility is still emitting radiation in to the air, and into the water supply and into the food supply.
And, the really bad news is that the longer radiation is still being emitted into the air, the greater the chance of both short-term and long-term health damage (and death) to human beings.
And the really, really bad news is... with the power off in the nuclear reactors... the cooling generators aren't up, and the core(s) could still suffer a meltdown. A major nuclear disaster that just might make the tsunami look like an outdoor kiddie pool in winter (frozen with no movement).
Have I scared you yet? Good. This is still a major concern for the Japanese people even if our newspapers aren't covering it as much as they should.
But let's not panic over something that hasn't happened yet. Okay. Just be concerned.
Meanwhile, let's look at more realities:
- On March 26, water samples take from Dai-chi unit No. 2 were 100,000 times the normal level, according to readings taken by TEPCO.
- Keep in mind that the radiation levels in the point above are the adjusted levels - earlier that day, TEPCO had recorded some radiation levels that were even high and promoted an immediate evacuation of the facility... those readings were later found to be in error. The readings were for 10,000,000 times the radiation than the accepted norm.
- High levels of radiated water were found in underground tunnels near the turbine buildings of some reactors. Radiation measuring 1,000 millisieverts were taken from an underground shaft near the No. 2 turbine building; much lower levels were found in a shaft near the No. 1 turbine building. But, the radiated water shouldn't be there at all. How did it get there?
- Radioactive material was also found on March 26 in seawater samples taken 30 meters (98 feet) north of the plant, showing Iodine-131 at 1,150 times above the safe limit.
- And lastly - this event occurred before everything above; on March 25, Japan urged (not forced) residents living within a radius of up to 30 kilometres (18.6 miles) from the power plant to leave, expanding its previously 20-km exclusion zone, though it said the measure was precautionary.
Andrew Joseph
