Monday, August 1, 2011

#Fukushima I Nuke Plant: Workers Knew About the Extremely High Radiation Around Exhaust Stack

They may not have known the exact number (well, for that matter, no one knows because the survey meter went overscale at 10 sieverts/hr), but they've been running past the area when they have to enter Reactor 1 building to install the external heat exchanger to the Spent Fuel Pool, according to the tweets by a worker currently at Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant.

So much for TEPCO's word that "there is no work planned near the area, and there will be no effect on the progress of the work at the plant", which is technically correct, at least the first half.

There may not be any work planned in the area there, BECAUSE RADIATION IS TOO HIGH. There may be no work planned there, but the workers have to go near it to enter the Reactor 1 building. The radiation is so high that the workers, with all their full protection gear and equipment and construction materials they carry, have been running past the area in order to minimize radiation exposure.

So it's been known.

More information from his tweets:

(Someone asked if it's true that TEPCO does not have the survey meter that can measure more than 10 sievert/hr radiation.) I think that's correct. We do have the instrument to measure the radiation of the nuclear fuel rods, but I wonder what happened to that. Broke?

(Referring to the area where over 10 sievert/hr radiation has been detected,) the radiation level around the exhaust stacks has been too high to even go near, ever since the accident started. Not just the area around the stack for Reactors 1 and 2, but also the stack for Reactors 3 and 4.

Debris are removed by shielded heavy equipment or remote-controlled equipment. That (10+ sievert/hr) spot was found during such operation.

We have to run when we go by the stack to enter Reactor 1. That's hard work. My legs hurt already from climbing up and down the stairs in the reactor building. Now I appreciate elevators!

All the elevators inside the reactor buildings at Fukushima I Nuke Plant are broken.

As to the worker who measured the radiation with the survey meter attached to a stick, Hiroaki Koide of Kyoto University says he must have spent only 1 or 2 seconds near the stack to get 4 millisieverts radiation.

Let's see. 2.78 millisieverts for one second, if the radiation was 10 sieverts/hr.

Koide thinks the radiation level is impossibly high to be coming from inside the duct or stack. He suspects there is a piece or two of the spent fuel blown out of the Spent Fuel Pool when Reactor 1 and Reactor 3 had hydrogen explosions.

He also says the protection suits that workers wear do nothing to protect them from gamma rays, unless they wear lead vests, but even then only marginally.

(For more of his comment, there's a transcript of the radio program that he appeared in, in Japanese.)

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Voila. This is exactly what I've said yesterday, in a comment after the Tepco news.

Tepco knew, everybody knew... But with their sick brains, they decided to disclose this information with an enormous lie : "we just found out about the high radioactivity of this spot".

Those people are sick. Really.

Sick and eventually totally stupid.

You can't lie with nuke. At least, on the long term.

It's impossible to lie for a long time.... Nuke will always "prevail".

Actually, they lost the battle on march 13. Period. And at one point in the future, those clowns will pay for their lies.

Anonymous said...

Elena/ Hopefully that does mean chain reaction has got from inside into the open.

Anonymous said...

Note in the TEPCO webcam, the area in front of #1 where the video stream seems to be "out of focus"? One YouTube video shows an area of bright yellow light at the base and lots of smoke. One has to wonder....see the Fukishima webcam discussion around July 28 for the link. Add to that the fact radioactive chlorine is at high levels in cooling water--which could be indicative of ongoing.."rogue"..fission. The cranes are also using something..concrete dumping?. in the area as well. Curious????

Anonymous said...

If the government has issues with internet discussions and comments, the fastest way to stop all invalid theories--is to "come clean"--or at least say "I DONT KNOW." TEPCO may not even have a true grasp on issues either-too much coverups.

Anonymous said...

If there is elevated radiation at all 4 reactor vent stacks it would seem something else is going on rather than the random ejection of spent fuel from the explosions of reactor buildings 1 and 3 as Mr. Koide suggests. Could the venting of the ultra high pressure steam have carried bits of corium into the stacks.Are their any screens, filters or driplegs into or onto which solids would accumulate at these points?

Anonymous said...

Many of us know that the reactor 3 was not a hydrogen explosion but a nuclear fission, a full scale nuclear explosion of the spent fuel in the fuel pool likely caused by a chimical reaction.

Anonymous said...

"As to the worker who measured the radiation with the survey meter attached to a stick, Hiroaki Koide of Kyoto University says he must have spent only 1 or 2 seconds near the stack to get 4 millisieverts radiation."

1 or 2 seconds, and did his very best to look like he'd been there long enough to scrutinize his meter. [strive for consistency, says TEPCO]


"If the government has issues with internet discussions and comments, the fastest way to stop all invalid theories - is to "come clean" "
TEPCO has an evident disdain for peoples' interest.


Boiling of water by melting cores is their best-case scenario.
A runaway process as energetic as that is is most likely to include transitory criticalities, radioactive metals boiling into vapor.

Anonymous said...

Running past the area?
Now that is fracking stupid!
I thought Japan had intelligent people.
Obviously, all the simple-minded decide to work for TEPCO!

Anonymous said...

"Running past the area?"

Sure, these guys are playing the lottery working there, but you know they've got to suspect TEPCO knows of or suspects danger around every corner.

Anonymous said...

10 Sieverts?
What about the neutron component? Hello TEPCO?
10 Sieverts gamma? 200 Sieverts neutron?

SOunds like there is fisioning waste all through the vent pipes.
This is the halmark of a nuclear explosion.

Post a Comment