Posted on 06/04/2011 12:09:46 AM PDT by TigerLikesRooster
Fukushima's No. 1 reactor building radiation up to 4,000 millisieverts
TOKYO (Kyodo) -- The operator of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant said Saturday it has detected radiation of up to 4,000 millisieverts per hour at the building housing the troubled No. 1 reactor.
The radiation reading, taken as Tokyo Electric Power Co. sent a robot into the No. 1 reactor building on Friday, is believed to be the largest detected in the air at the plant.
TEPCO said it took the reading near the floor at the southeast corner of the building under which runs a pipe emitting steam, the utility known as TEPCO said. It found no damage to the pipe, TEPCO added.
The pressure suppression containment vessel is located under the building and highly radioactive contaminated water generated by the reactor is believed to be accumulated there, TEPCO said, adding, the steam is probably coming from the water.
TEPCO said its workers have no plan to work around the area but it will carefully watch developments in the area.
On Friday, nine workers entered the building to attach a pressure indicator to the pressure vessel, with the workers exposed to up to about 4 millisieverts of radiation, according to TEPCO.
The Fukushima Daiichi plant was crippled by the massive March 11 earthquake and tsunami.
(Mainichi Japan) June 4, 2011
(Excerpt) Read more at mdn.mainichi.jp ...
P!
What a sievert? The article is written as if we all know-—but I never heard of a sievert.
I went to College with a guy named Sievert. I wonder if he knows. (I certainly don’t)
All the info you need for the basics, plus some, is on wikipedia. It was of immense help to me in the days after the meltdown, and that’s why I know we are safe in Tokyo.
FYI, I looked up Sievert: found in 'Chemical metallurgy: principles and...etc.,etc.' It deals with diffusion of gases through metal...e.g., how how much radiation (rads) is passing at what rate through what metal.
4000 sieverts = 4000 rem.
Radiation Safety: Nuke plants allow 5000 rem/year for plant workers, a level determined as safe by the NRC.
Thanks. I’ve found Wiki’s good for this kind of material...I stopped my search when I saw [Sievert’s law] and then onto the metallurgical book.
Nope, 1 sierverts = 100 rem...according to the link you provided, and to the wikipedia page at least. But the article was talking about 4000 millisierverts which would be 400 rem...but I *think* it has to be talking over some unit of time, which I am not sure if it means day or hour.
4000 mSv (4 Sv) is extremely severe, survival is sometimes possible with immediate treatment.
Sorry, I did intend to write millisieverts, but the best intentions...
Thanks.
In other words, they've lost it and can do nothing else but eat popcorn while it melts down. The Japan Syndrome.
I have 120,000 millivolts coming out of my wall sockets!
Radiation Safety - http://www.iaea.org/Publications/Booklets/Radiation/radsafe.html#thirteen
“Medical uses of radiation are by far the largest source of man-made exposure of the public; the global yearly average dose is 0.3 millisieverts.
Environmental Radiation. Radioactive materials are also present in the atmosphere as a result of atomic bomb testing and other activities. They may lead to human exposure by several pathways external irradiation from radioactive materials deposited on the ground; inhalation of airborne radioactivity, and ingestion of radioactive materials in food and water.
Radioactive fall-out from nuclear weapons tests carried out in the atmosphere is the most widespread environmental contaminant but doses to the public have declined from the relatively high values of the early 1960s to very low levels now. The global yearly average dose is 0.006 millisieverts. However, where tests were carried out at ground level or even underground, localised contamination often remains near weapons sites.
Nuclear and other industries, and to a small degree hospitals and universities, discharge radioactive materials to the environment. Nearly all countries regulate industrial discharges and require the more significant to be authorized and monitored. Monitoring of such effluent may be carried out by the government department that authorizes the discharges as well as by the operator.
The nuclear power industry releases small quantities of a wide variety of radioactive materials at each stage in the nuclear fuel cycle. For the public the global yearly average dose is 0.008 millisieverts. The type of radioactive materials, and whether they are liquid, gaseous or particulate depends upon the operation of each process. For instance, nuclear power stations release carbon-14 and sulphur-35, which find their way through food chains to humans. Liquid discharges include radioactive materials that people may ingest through fish and shellfish.
The yearly dose to individuals living close to a power plant is small - usually a fraction of a millisievert; doses to people further away are even smaller. Reprocessing nuclear fuel produces higher doses which vary greatly from plant to plant. For the most exposed members of the public, they can be as high as 0.4 millisieverts, but for most of the population they are very much smaller.
World-wide, there are estimated to be four million workers exposed to artificial radiation as a result of their work, with an average yearly dose of about 1 millisievert. Another five million (mostly in civil aviation) have yearly average doses due to natural radiation of 1.7 millisieverts.
Non-nuclear industries also produce radioactive discharges. They include the processing of ores containing radioactive materials as well as the element for which the ore is processed. Phosphorus ores, for instance, contain radium which can find its way into the effluent. A very different industry, the generation of electricity by coal-fired power stations, results in the release of naturally-occurring radioactive materials from the coal. These are discharged to air and transfer through food chains to the population. However, the radiation doses are always low - 0.001 millisieverts or less.
Accidental releases of radioactive materials. Apart from contamination due to the normal operations of the nuclear industry, radioactivity has been widely dispersed accidentally. The most significant accident was at Chernobyl nuclear power station in the Ukraine, where an explosion caused the release of large amounts of radioactivity over a period of several days. Airborne radioactive material dispersed widely over Europe and even further afield. Contamination at ground level varied considerably, being much heavier where rain washed the radioactivity out of the air. Radiation doses therefore varied significantly from normal. More than 100,000 people were evacuated during the first three weeks following the accident. Whole body doses received from external radiation from the Ukrainian part of the 30-km exclusion zone showed an average value of 15 millisieverts. (source OECD, 1995)
Radiation in Consumer Products. Minute radiation doses are received from the artificial radioactivity in consumer goods such as smoke detectors and luminous watches, and from the natural radioactivity of gas mantles. The global yearly average dose is extremely small (0.0005 millisieverts).”
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However, follow that up with their kiss-up June 1 report:
http://www.iaea.org/newscenter/focus/fukushima/missionsummary010611.pdf
It states that officials were extremely open - Not. In the beginning they went into denial mode.
It states that no one has reported any health effects from radiation - Not. Workers were reported ill and they were having to go in in short rotations.
Uh , that’s 5000 MILLIREM’s per year or 5 REM.
Thanks. That’s what I have on post 11.
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