using brooms, dustpans, spatula, and a patent-pending dust collector. (Isn't that something? Patent-pending.)
The work was done from January 7 to 30, 2012. Total 60 workers, 150 bags of contaminated soil and small debris removed by the workers.
Workers used brooms, dustpans, shovels to remove dust and dirt, and washed the surface of the parking lot. Apparently, they didn't bother removing the cars as the photos below show.
Then, the heavy machinery's turn to scrape the surface by wire brush and vacuum the rubble and dust.
The results as announced by TEPCO (2/3/2012):
Air radiation levels at 1 meter off the ground:
Before: Average 82μSv/h,Maximum 355μSv/h
After: Average 54μSv/h, Maximum 115μSv/h
Air radiation levels at 1 centimeter off the ground:
Before: Average 254μSv/h, Maximum ,240μSv/h* (*TEPCO's Japanese version of the document says "1,240".)
After: Average 68μSv/h, Maximum 181μSv/h
For TEPCO's credit, the company didn't call the work "decontamination"; it was "Radiation dose reduction by collecting dust and small rubbles at the parking lot in front of Main anti-Earthquake Building of Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station".
The same operation anywhere else in Fukushima is called "decontamination", and it is to be done by the residents of Fukushima hired as "decon workers" and by decon volunteers from all over Japan.
30-Day free trial by following the link.
Tokyo Time
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8 comments:
That's one small parking lot for man...
What's the point when Daiichi is still belching out radiation?
Where's the follow up measurements of the minty-fresh parking lot in say, about two weeks?
"Average 254μSv/h, Maximum, 240μSv/h" must be wrong. Average cannot be larger than Maximum.
I know. That's what TEPCO says in the English handout. I checked the Japanese version, and it is 1240....
To their credit, it does seem to have been effective.
Yes, if it lowers the radiation I don't see the point of making fun of it.
What's funny? The half-ass way they do it. They don't even move the cars out of the parking lot.
Did it "lower the radiation," or simply move it to the parking lot edge via wind and water runoff, or to wherever they dump the dust? And if the lot is still contaminated after all this work (and after putting the workers at risk), why shouldn't the company be criticized for pretending that this is a remediation measure?
@Mike, it's because this is what is to be done elsewhere in Fukushima, Tohoku and Kanto to "decontaminate" (except for the patent-pending dust collector). Everyone pretends. So it's not "fair" to single out TEPCO to criticize.
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