Uploaded April 2011 | Updated September 2026, 3 hours ago
**Radiation surges above Unit 4's fuel pool**
Radiation has risen to high levels above the spent-fuel pool at reactor No. 4 and its temperature is rising, the nuclear safety agency said Wednesday, indicating the fuel rods have been further damaged and are emitting radioactive substances.
"It's quite an amount," figured Hidehiko Nishiyama, a spokesman for the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency.
Tepco dumped 195 tons of fresh water onto the rods early Wednesday to stop the temperature from rising.
Tepco said the fuel rods in the Unit 4 pool had released cesium-134 and -137 in the process of being damaged. Cesium-137 has a half-life of 30 years. "Contaminated water leaked From the Unit 2 may have gathered as a lump and drifted offshore," Nishiyama said. "We need to continue monitoring it."
The temperature of the pool was 90 degrees, compared with 84 before it caught fire on March 15 in a suspected hydrogen explosion.
READ MORE: search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20110414a1.html
*Groundwater radiation level at nuke plant rises* April 15 Update
The concentration levels of radioactive iodine and cesium in groundwater near the troubled Nos. 1 and 2 reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant have increased up to several dozen times in one week, suggesting that toxic water has seeped from nearby reactor turbine buildings or elsewhere, Tokyo Electric Power Co. said Thursday.
The announcement came as the plant operator continued to grapple with pools of highly radioactive water found on the plant's premises, with the level of polluted water filling an underground trench edging up again after the company finished pumping out around 660 tons of water.
According to the latest findings, a groundwater sample taken April 6 near the No. 1 reactor turbine building showed radioactive iodine-131 of 72 becquerels per cubic meter, with the concentration level growing to 400 becquerels as of Wednesday. The concentration level of cesium-134 increased from 1.4 becquerels to 53 becquerels.
The government's nuclear regulatory agency said it had ordered the utility firm known as TEPCO to enhance monitoring of groundwater inside the plant, which is located on the Pacific coast.
A total of around 60,000 tons of contaminated water is believed to be flooding the basements of the Nos. 1 to 3 reactor turbine buildings as well as trenches connected to them, and the water is hampering work to restore the cooling functions of the reactors lost since the March 11 earthquake and ensuing tsunami.
READ MORE WITH PHOTOS: english.kyodonews.jp/news/2011/04/85532.html
Fukushima's Unit 4 fuel pool still poses a huge danger to Japan if it catches fire. The pool has both plutonium and depleted uranium.
Arnie Gundersen talks to Russia Today on April 13 about how the Japanese government dragged their heels in evacuating their citizens from the area effected by the Fukushima nuclear plant disaster.
Gundersen compares events of Chernobyl to that happening in Fukushima.
FAIR USE NOTICE: These Videos may contain copyrighted (© ) material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. Such material is made available to advance understanding of ecological, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, moral, ethical, and social justice issues, etc. It is believed that this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior general interest in receiving similar information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode
**Radiation surges above Unit 4's fuel pool**
Radiation has risen to high levels above the spent-fuel pool at reactor No. 4 and its temperature is rising, the nuclear safety agency said Wednesday, indicating the fuel rods have been further damaged and are emitting radioactive substances.
"It's quite an amount," figured Hidehiko Nishiyama, a spokesman for the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency.
Tepco dumped 195 tons of fresh water onto the rods early Wednesday to stop the temperature from rising.
Tepco said the fuel rods in the Unit 4 pool had released cesium-134 and -137 in the process of being damaged. Cesium-137 has a half-life of 30 years. "Contaminated water leaked From the Unit 2 may have gathered as a lump and drifted offshore," Nishiyama said. "We need to continue monitoring it."
The temperature of the pool was 90 degrees, compared with 84 before it caught fire on March 15 in a suspected hydrogen explosion.
READ MORE: search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20110414a1.html
*Groundwater radiation level at nuke plant rises* April 15 Update
The concentration levels of radioactive iodine and cesium in groundwater near the troubled Nos. 1 and 2 reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant have increased up to several dozen times in one week, suggesting that toxic water has seeped from nearby reactor turbine buildings or elsewhere, Tokyo Electric Power Co. said Thursday.
The announcement came as the plant operator continued to grapple with pools of highly radioactive water found on the plant's premises, with the level of polluted water filling an underground trench edging up again after the company finished pumping out around 660 tons of water.
According to the latest findings, a groundwater sample taken April 6 near the No. 1 reactor turbine building showed radioactive iodine-131 of 72 becquerels per cubic meter, with the concentration level growing to 400 becquerels as of Wednesday. The concentration level of cesium-134 increased from 1.4 becquerels to 53 becquerels.
The government's nuclear regulatory agency said it had ordered the utility firm known as TEPCO to enhance monitoring of groundwater inside the plant, which is located on the Pacific coast.
A total of around 60,000 tons of contaminated water is believed to be flooding the basements of the Nos. 1 to 3 reactor turbine buildings as well as trenches connected to them, and the water is hampering work to restore the cooling functions of the reactors lost since the March 11 earthquake and ensuing tsunami.
READ MORE WITH PHOTOS: english.kyodonews.jp/news/2011/04/85532.html
Fukushima's Unit 4 fuel pool still poses a huge danger to Japan if it catches fire. The pool has both plutonium and depleted uranium.
Arnie Gundersen talks to Russia Today on April 13 about how the Japanese government dragged their heels in evacuating their citizens from the area effected by the Fukushima nuclear plant disaster.
Gundersen compares events of Chernobyl to that happening in Fukushima.
FAIR USE NOTICE: These Videos may contain copyrighted (© ) material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. Such material is made available to advance understanding of ecological, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, moral, ethical, and social justice issues, etc. It is believed that this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior general interest in receiving similar information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode
