– Fukushima No. 2 reactor radiation level up to 73 sieverts per hour (Kyodo News, March 27, 2012):
TOKYO — The operator of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant said Tuesday that the radiation level inside the crippled No. 2 reactor stood at an extremely high level between 31.1 and 72.9 sieverts per hour, underscoring the existence of radioactive substances from the melted fuel inside the structure.
– ‘Fukushima reactor in crisis again’ (Times Of India/AFP, Mar 28, 2012):
TOKYO: A new probe at Japan’s crippled nuclear power plant has found fatal radiation levels and hardly any cooling water inside one of the reactors, renewing concerns about plant’s stability.
The operator of Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant says an endoscopic examination on Tuesday detected radiation levels up to 10 times the fatal dose inside the No. 2 reactor’s contain chamber, suggesting challenges ahead in shutting down the facility.
The probe also found the containment vessel had cooling water up to only about 2 feet from the bottom, far below the 10 meters estimated when the government declared the plant’s stability in December. Plant workers also reported fresh leaks of contaminated water from a water treatment unit.
– Fukushima reactor water level shallower than thought (The Yomiuri Shimbun, Mar. 28, 2012)
The water level in the containment vessel of the No. 2 reactor at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant is only about 60 centimeters deep, far shallower than previously assumed levels of about four meters, according to Tokyo Electric Power Co.
The lower-than-expected water level was discovered for the first time when the power utility used an industrial endoscope to check the crippled reactor’s interior on Monday, TEPCO said.
According to some experts, it is possible that nuclear fuel that melted through the reactor’s pressure vessel and accumulated on the bottom of the containment vessel in the aftermath of the March 11 earthquake and tsunami may not be completely covered in the water.
TEPCO said the water temperature in the vessel remained relatively low within a range of 48.5 C to 50 C. The discovery of the unexpectedly shallow water level will not affect TEPCO’s judgment that the reactor is in a state of “cold shutdown.”
– Very high radiation, little water in Japan reactor (Palm Beach post/AP, Mar 28, 2012):
TOKYO — One of Japan’s crippled nuclear reactors still has fatally high radiation levels and much less water to cool it than officials had estimated, according to an internal examination that renews doubts about the plant’s stability.
A tool equipped with a tiny video camera, a thermometer, a dosimeter and a water gauge was used to assess damage inside the No. 2 reactor’s containment chamber for the second time since the tsunami swept into the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant a year ago.
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Tags: Environment, Fukushima, Global News, Health, Japan, Nuclear, Nuclear reactors, Radiation, TEPCO