Fukushima plant still emitting radiation at alarming rate!
TOKYO, Japan (PNN) - July 24, 2012 - According to calculations by Tokyo Electric Power Co., the operator of the Fukushima No. 1 plant, a total of about 10 million becquerels per hour of radioactive cesium was being emitted from the No. 1 to No. 3 reactors as of June.
Calculating the additional radiation exposure caused by radioactive materials that accumulated on the ground after being emitted from the No. 1 to No. 3 reactors, the combined external and internal radiation exposure level at the main gate of the plant facility about one kilometer from the nuclear plant was 0.02 millisieverts over the course of a year. That was considerably below the 1-millisievert level that was used as a goal in determining if a state of cold shutdown had been achieved.
Since February, the level of radiation emitted from the reactors has remained unchanged.
“There is the possibility that the cesium that fell on the reactor buildings was stirred up again,” said Junichi Matsumoto, acting general director of TEPCO’s Nuclear Power and Plant Siting Division.
The most radiation is being emitted from the No. 2 reactor, which is releasing 8 million becquerels an hour. The radiation is believed to be leaking from a hole that was made in the wall of the top floor of the reactor building.
