Fukushima: The radiation readings may be higher than the Geiger counters are capable of measuring

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-08-02/tepco-reports-second-deadly-radiation-reading-at-fukushima-plant.html

Tepco Reports Second Deadly Radiation Reading at Fukushima Plant

By Tsuyoshi Inajima and Kari Lundgren - Aug 2, 2011 10:40 AM CT

Tokyo Electric Power Co. reported its second deadly radiation reading in as many days at its wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant north of Tokyo.

The utility known as Tepco said yesterday it detected 5 sieverts of radiation per hour in the No. 1 reactor building. On Aug. 1 in another area it recorded radiation of 10 sieverts per hour, enough to kill a person “within a few weeks” after a single exposure, according to the World Nuclear Association. snip

The 10 sieverts of radiation detected on Aug. 1 outside reactor buildings was the highest the Geiger counters used were capable of reading, indicating the level could have been higher, Junichi Matsumoto, a general manager at the utility, said at a press conference.

[suffragette]

1. Terrifying news

[Coyote_Bandit]

2. Why

haven't we been urging them to entomb this wasteland?

[MoonRiver]

4. I believe human beings have an annihilation wish.

And that is not a facetious statement.

[backscatter712]

8. Even a sarcophagus might not work.

Look at Chernobyl - it's infamous sarcophagus is falling apart, and they have to build another one on top of it.

At Fukushima, they're right next to the ocean, so just building a concrete tomb over the top doesn't solve the problem - you have to keep the radioactive stuff out of the groundwater (and they've been failing at that.)

Pretty much the only thing to do is wait for radiation levels to die down (and with radiation as intense as 10 sieverts/hr, we're talking about isotopes with short half-lives), then come in and clean up what can be cleaned up without killing the cleanup workers. Then wait more for more radioactives to decay to safer levels, and clean more up.

This mess will take decades to clean up...

[NNN0LHI]

10. A sarcophagus definitely would not fit into the plans of the nuclear industry

A big concrete monument to failure for the world to see is the last thing the nuclear industry wants.

They were able to write off the last one on those "Those stupid Soviets." And most people believed it. This disaster won't be that easy to pull off simply because we have one of the most technologically advanced countries in the world who tried their best and still couldn't safely harness nuclear energy. That looks bad for the entire industry. If Japan can't tame nuclear, who can?

While I agree what you say also has merit I think "image" is a big part of the decision making going on here.

Don

[truebrit71]

3. Holy crap...

...

[proud patriot]

5. Well that's Scary !

:-(

[formercia]

6. Extrapolate

Back off a known distance until the reading is within scale and calculate. Basic Algebra.

Best go back to the Office and do your calculations, otherwise, be quick about it.

[diane in sf]

7. Reactors on major active faults--what could possibly go wrong???

[marions ghost]

9. If they detected 5-10 sieverts yesterday...

what is it today?

Is this not expected when a reactor has a meltdown? Which is what happened in No.1, right?

They seem to have no ideas about why the suddenly higher reading?

[formercia]

12. My suspicion is that Plutonium has dissolved into the Water

and the water has become part of the Fuel.

[marions ghost]

14. I see

yikes. :argh:

[Stargazer99]

11. and still I heard a RW whining about not having nuclear plants!

RW Cons are death prone. anyone's death but their's

[StarsInHerHair]

13. we need to build geiger counters that can read higher levels

[formercia]

15. You would also need Operators who can withstand higher Radiation levels.

At the present maximum reading, the operator would be incapacitated within a few minutes.