Radiation levels hit new high near Fukushima water tanks

[muriel_volestrangler]

Radiation levels around tanks storing contaminated water at Japan's crippled Fukushima nuclear plant have risen by a fifth to a new high, officials say.

Ground readings near one set of tanks stood at 2,200 millisieverts (mSv) on Tuesday, the plant operator and Japan's nuclear authority said.
...
The spike in radiation levels found on Tuesday was in the same area where the 1,800 mSv level was detected on Saturday, a spokeswoman from Tepco told Bloomberg.
...
The readings are thought to be high enough to provide a lethal radiation dose to someone standing near contaminated areas without protective gear within hours.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-23945612

[Mnemosyne]

1. The 'gift' that keeps on giving and giving and giving and giving...nt

[caraher]

2. BBC: Please use proper units!

2,200 mSv PER WHAT?!

Sure, implicitly its in the same time interval as the "1,800" level, and if one digs around one can learn that's per hour. But this is just inexcusably sloppy reporting, and does little to equip readers to sort out nonsense like TEPCO's claim that "1800 mSv/h" is about "3.5" times greater than the annual radiation worker hand dose action level of 500 mSv.

This is not nit-picking. Numbers without correct units are as bad as no numbers at all...

[jimlup]

4. Yea sometimes I tell my physics students that

you don't go the grocery store and buy "7"

They also learn that they will always see a significant deduction if they use incorrect or absent units on any problem. (I should just take away all the points but I don't have the heart to do that. They are still just learning...)

[jimlup]

3. Meanwhile back on the other side of the continent...

Yeah this is very troubling.