#Fukushima I Nuke Plant: 3.6 Sieverts/Hr at Stack Drain Pipe for Reactors 1 and 2

Another solid "sievert" number from Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant.

Maybe I shouldn't be writing in sieverts. It minimizes the significance somewhat. It is 3.6 sieverts/hour, or 3,600 millisieverts/hour, or 3,600,000 microsieverts/hour. No humans of any age should be exposed to that kind of radiation, not even the TEPCO workers.

From what I've found, only Mainichi Shinbun (only a brief mention) and Nikkan Sports (tabloid newspaper covering mostly sports-related news) carried the news from Kyodo News. (But I couldn't find it at Kyodo News site.)

Nikkan Sports citing Kyodo News (8/4/2011):

福島第１原発１、２号機の主排気筒の底部で毎時１０シーベルト（１万ミリシーベルト）以上の高線量が測定された問題で、東京電力は４日、底部につながる配管から毎時３・６シーベルトを測定したと発表した。

Investigating the 10-plus sieverts/hour radiation at the bottom of the main exhaust duct for the Reactors 1 and 2 at Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant, TEPCO announced on August 4 that 3.6 sieverts/hour radiation was detected at the drain pipe that connects to the bottom of the main exhaust stack for Reactors 1 and 2.

　配管は底部にたまった雨水を排出するのに使われ、主排気筒から数メートル離れたところで毎時３・６シーベルトが測定された。東電は新たに配管周辺も立ち入り禁止区域とした。

The pipe is for draining rainwater from the bottom of the exhaust stack. 3.6 sieverts/hour radiation was measured at several meters from the exhaust stack. TEPCO has designated the area around the pipe as off-limits.

　１０シーベルト超の高線量の原因を調査するため、作業員４人が周辺を測定して発見。作業員の被ばく線量は最高で２～３ミリシーベルトだった。

The 3.6 sieverts/hour spot was found by 4 workers measuring the area as part of investigation to find out why the radiation at the exhaust stack had such high radiation exceeding 10 sieverts/hour. The maximum radiation exposure for the workers was 2 to 3 millisieverts.

Here's the photo released by TEPCO on August 5. The orange cone to the left marks the location where 10-plus sieverts/radiation was measured on August 1:

This is the photo of the location with 10-plus sieverts/hour. The pipe that extends right from the exhaust stack is the one that measured 3.6 sieverts/hour:

I have to wonder where the rainwater has been draining, all these 4-plus months.

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