TEPCO: "Release of Radioactive Materials from Reactor 1 Building Will Be Small"

and the famous last word, I'm sure. "No ill effect on human health".

The latest from Yomiuri Shinbun (10:26PM JST 5/7/2011):

　東京電力は７日、福島第一原子力発電所１号機の原子炉建屋内から８日午後にも、放射性物質が外部へ放出される可能性があると発表した。

TEPCO announced on May 7 that there is a possibility that radioactive materials may be released in the afternoon of May 8 from the reactor building of the Reactor 1 at Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant.

　原子炉建屋内で人が本格的な作業を始めるのに先立ち、原子炉建屋の二重扉を開放するため。東電は発電所周辺の放射線量の監視を強化する。

TEPCO is going to open the double door to the reactor building [for the first time since the accident] so that the workers can work inside the reactor building for longer periods. TEPCO will monitor the radiation level in and around the plant.

　東電によると、タービン建屋との間にあるこの二重扉を利用して敷設した配管で、原子炉建屋内の空気をタービン建屋側に設置した浄化装置に引き込 み、浮遊する放射性物質を除去している。二重扉はタービン建屋側に作った小部屋で覆っているため、両方の建屋は事実上は仕切られていた。

The air inside the reactor building is being fed through the ducts that go through the double door between the reactor building and the turbine building, and to the air filtering system set up inside the turbine building that removes radioactive materials in the air. TEPCO built a compartment to separate the area where the double door is; so far the turbine building and the reactor building have been separated by this compartment.

　しかし、５日に始めた浄化で原子炉建屋内の放射性物質濃度が下がり、作業を本格化させるめどがついた。そのため、東電は８日午後にも小部屋を取り払い、扉を開放することを決めた。

However, [TEPCO says] the level of radioactive materials inside the reactor building has been reduced enough for further works to be carried out inside the building, thanks to the air filtering system that's been in operation since May 5. TEPCO will remove the compartment [between the reactor building and the turbine building] in the afternoon of May 8 and open the double door.

That's diametrically opposite of what the government officials were apparently saying on May 1, when the PM's assistant was on record saying "there will be a large amount of radioactive materials released on May 8".

No estimate or simulation of how low (or high) the level may be of the radioactive materials coming out of the Reactor 1 reactor building. No official (government) word.

For the rest of us, we are supposed to take TEPCO's word and feel secure and comforted that radiation will be low.

This is the company that somehow forgot (didn't bother, I might say) to inform the plant workers of the "dry vent" (the link is in Japanese) that it did on Reactor 1 on March 12, exposing the workers on the ground to high radiation without them knowing. Only a handful operators who did the vent, and some in the operation headquarters at the plant knew about it, and not all workers had dosimeters with them at that time (dosimeters were swept away and lost in the tsunami).

Tweet