Friday, June 3, 2011

720,000 Terabecquerels of Radioactive Materials in 100,000 Tonnes of Contaminated Water

When I posted the news about 100,000 tonnes of highly contaminated water at Fukushima I Nuke Plant, I forgot to mention this. (You can read about it in the Businessweek article here.)

That water is estimated to contain 720,000 terabecquerels of radioactive iodine and cesium.

That's another "Level 7" right there.

That's more than what has been released into the atmosphere, which the Nuclear Safety Commission estimates to be about 630,000 terabecquerels and Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency estimates to be about 370,000 terabecquerels.

I personally think this air radiation numbers underestimate the true numbers, particularly the number from NISA. At that time (mid April), NISA said they calculated the number based on the amount of radioactive materials they estimated to be still inside the RPV. At that time, NISA assured everyone that the fuel rods were only partially damaged and they were all inside the Reactor Pressure Vessels. Now we know (and they should have known) that the RPVs were breached very early in the accident, and the melted core had at least partially escaped out of the RPV by the time they made the estimate.

Now, Fukushima is slowly approaching Chernobyl.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thank you for continuing to provide updates on this situation.

Secular said...

Apologies if this not the correct thread to ask this question:
I have wondered why a magnitude 8.9/9.0 earthquake with an epicentre relatively close to the mainland did NOT cause more structural damage preceeding the tsunami.
Can anyone explain?

Excellent web site - keep up the good work.

netudiant said...

That is about 20 million curies worth in the water alone, versus an estimated 50 million curie total release at Chernobyl.
This is a disaster of very similar magnitude already and is is still ongoing.
Given that this accident involves vastly more nuclear fuel than was at Chernobyl, Japan has been fortunate to have escaped with somewhat less than equal harm.

Anonymous said...

Japan still has a long way to go before they can claim they have escaped with "somewhat less than equal harm". With Japans population density give it time Chernobyl may seem like Three Mile Island in a decade.

Anonymous said...

One can inject ignited browns gas (flame) into the water, as a 'flow by' system of treatment....and this will completely negate the radiation. ~FACT~. As tested by the Canadian government Nuclear agencies and it is documented in a film/video that is available on the net. So we CAN neutralize the radiation issue. Today, and for a few $million. However, the Brown's gas does other things that the PTB don't want you to know about or understand. So....it will not be available as a solution.

Kirk said...

Neutralize radiation with brown gas? Please point to reference material. This does not make a whole lot of sense. Zeolite could absorb and immobilize radiation, but not a gas that burns to make water.

humfrydog said...

I appreciate your news also and I have provided links to it from our site www.fukushimafallout.info if you can come talk on our live chat sometime. Your input and insite would be welcomed.

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