I blogged about Fukushima many times in the aftermath of the nuclear disaster there in March of 2011. For the past few years, Tepco has been working to clean up the mess with radioactive contamination leaking into the Pacific Ocean. I have not blogged much about the situation there recently. Last week, it was announced that there was a spike in radiation readings at Fukushima and that there have been some hysterical headlines online claims that a reactor there has or is in the process of falling into the sea. I decided that it was time for a blog post about the real situation at Fukushima.
Following a major earthquake and tsunami in March of 2011, flooding at the Fukushima power plant on the coast of Japan caused the meltdown of three reactors releasing huge amounts of radioactive materials into the atmosphere. Subsequently, cooling water injected into the destroyed reactors became severely contaminated and was captured in storage tanks. The amount of contaminated water overwhelmed the capacity of the tanks and began flowing into the Pacific Ocean. Contaminated water continues to flow into the ocean six years later. Tepco, the owner of the Fukushima power station has been working on stopping the release of contaminated water and cleaning up the mess at the power station for the past six years.
A week ago, reports from Japanese news sources began to say that the level of radiation in the ruins of the Unit Two reactor at Fukushima had risen to five hundred and thirty Sieverts per hour, the highest level recorded since the meltdown of that reactor in March of 2011. Even a brief exposure to this level of radiation would cause death. The previous level of radiation read from this location was seventy-three Sieverts per hour.
The reading was taken at the entrance to the space just below the pressure vessel which contains the reactor core. Tepco had no immediate explanation for what was causing the high radiation reading. Tepco also said that there was no increase in radiation levels outside of the reactor.
A lot of water was injected into this part of the reactor and would have moved a lot of radioactive materials around. There is a depression in the concrete pedestal below the pressure vessel and radioactive particles could have collected in that depression. The high radiation reading suggests that some of the melted fuel that escaped the reactor core is near where the reading was taken.
Regardless of the cause for the high radiation levels, this level of radiation makes working to dismantle this reactor very difficult if not impossible. Tepco will probably have to build a huge concrete shell called a sarcophagus over the Unit Two reactor.
Following the announcement of the high radiation levels in the Unit Two reactor, alarmist headlines began to appear saying things like "Fukushima reactor on the verge of falling into the sea." This is simply false. The situation at Fukushima is serious enough without such false news stories spreading panic among the citizens of Japan.
