Saturday, April 23, 2011

Radiation levels in the district of Okuma Machi (located 3 km from the plant) are reading pretty darn high

Officials are weighing the danger factor for residents who want to return temporarily

From the Daily Yomiuri Online:

"The science ministry has announced the results of radiation monitoring in areas between one and 21 kilometers from the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.

The research was conducted in 128 locations on April 18 and 19 to judge whether it was safe enough for residents to temporarily return home in areas close to power station in Fukushima Prefecture.

The Ottozawa district in Okumamachi, about three kilometers west-southwest of the plant, recorded the highest figure of 110 microsieverts per hour, the Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Ministry said Thursday.

The figure is about one-ninth of the annual legal limit of 1,000 microsieverts for humans, except during medical treatment or other circumstances."
(Apr. 23, 2011)

Visitors have 9 hours at this location before they max out their radiation allotment for the year, so it would literally have to be a quick dash in and out.

Just a hundred days 94.69 days at this location (at 3 whole kilometers away from the plant, no less) yields 250 milliSieverts, the current maximum allowable dose for all Fukushima workers.  If you ask me, this is just more convincing evidence indicating that many Fukushima plant workers will either meet or exceed their maximum allowable doses very very soon.

Update: 1 worker gets 100 mSv in one shot, 30 workers are at 100 milliSieverts or more

3 comments :

  1. Does this include the men who stepped into the radioactive water early in the crisis? I thought they had been exposed to something like 180 milli-sievert.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Yes it includes all to date. Here's more from that article-

    Workers locked in battle at Fukushima, exposure to radiation rising

    TOKYO, April 23, Kyodo

    "Workers at a nuclear power plant damaged by last month's earthquake and tsunami that devastated Japan's northeast continued battling to deal with radioactive water Saturday as their exposure to radiation is constantly increasing.

    One more worker is found to have been exposed to radiation of more than 100 millisieverts, bringing to 30 the total number of people of that dosage level while dealing with the crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi plant since the March 11 disasters, sources familiar with the situation said.

    Plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. said Saturday that a piece of concrete rubble with a high radiation emission of 900 millisieverts per hour was found near the plant's No. 3 reactor and a worker removed it using heavy equipment."

    ReplyDelete
  3. They redacted their story a bit in this link. Yesterdays version menioned a new water incident and said that these 30 were "at least" at 100 mSv.

    ReplyDelete