Posted on 03/28/2011 2:27:58 PM PDT by darkside321
Highly radioactive water has been found for the first time outside one of the reactor buildings at Japan's quake-hit Fukushima nuclear plant, officials say.
The leak in a tunnel linked to the No 2 reactor has raised fears of radioactive liquid seeping into the environment.
Plutonium has also been found in soil at the plant, but not at levels that threaten human health, officials say.
Earlier, Japan's government strongly criticised the plant's operator, Tepco, over mistaken radiation readings.
Tepco announced on Sunday that a highly radioactive pool of water in the No 2 reactor was 100 times more radioactive than it actually was.
Officials said the radiation scare was caused by a partial meltdown of fuel rods.
Underground tunnel
The discovery of highly radioactive water outside a reactor building is a worrying development, says the BBC's Mark Worthington in Tokyo.
Up until now, pools of water with extremely high levels of radiation have only been detected within the reactor buildings themselves. The water was found in an underground maintenance tunnel, with one end located about 55m (180ft) from the shore.
Radiation levels were measured at 1,000 millisieverts an hour, a dose that can cause temporary radiation sickness. This is the same as the levels found on Sunday.
However, Tepco said there was no evidence that the contaminated water had reached the sea.
Tepco later said that plutonium had also been detected in soil at five locations at the plant but not at levels that represented a risk to human health.
It said the results came from samples taken a week ago and would not stop work at the plant.
Plutonium was used in the fuel mix for only one of the six reactors, number three...
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.co.uk ...
Prayers for the poor people of Japan, this is just all too much.
This is like the Chinese Water Torture of bad news.
Nagasaki was destroyed by a plutonium bomb, and yet there are close to half a million people living there today.
So much for the tinfoil hat. Huh? Go the link posted below. You’ll feel better. The containment buildings are still intact.
“Plutonium sampling
Tepco has reported results from analysis of plutonium at five places at the Fukushima Daiichi site.
Three of the five samples showed the element at the pervasive levels found across Japan as a result of atmospheric nuclear weapons tests. This level poses “no major impact on human health”, said Tepco. However, slightly higher detections from two samples “may be attributed to the accident, considering the plutonium isotope ratios.” Tepco did not speculate on a possible route for the plutonium to have been deposited on the soil. Three more analyses from different spots are underway.”
http://www.world-nuclear-news.org/RS_Contaminated_pools_to_the_drained_2703111.html
OMG, that explains so very much, lol!
Prayers for Japan. And contrary to what some idiots say, radiation seeking tourists will not flood to Japan. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FXFUUGeV1DI
good article...
The presence of plutonium appears to be more MSM scare mongering and misinformation. According to http://www.jaif.or.jp/english/news_images/pdf/ENGNEWS01_1301385458P.pdf, the plutonium has been there since atomic bombs were tested.
Excerpt from Japan Atomic Industrial Forum (JAIF), Status of nuclear power plants in Fukushima as of 16:00 March 29: The concentration of plutonium measured is as little as in the normal environment, almost the same as measured in Japan when the nuclear bomb tests were conducted in the past, and not harmful to the human body.
It is an established fact that contamination from nuclear bomb tests have spread radioactive particles throughout the entire world, and yet we are still here.
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