Radiation Levels at Fukushima Hit Lethal High
Wednesday, September 4th, 2013September 4, 2013
Radiation levels around tanks in which contaminated water is stored at Japan’s crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant have risen to a new high. Ground readings near one set of tanks hit 2,200 millisieverts (mSv) yesterday, up from 1,800 mSv on August 31. (The sievert is the International System of Units [SI] unit that measures the dosage of absorbed radiation that produces biological effect.) Nuclear scientists believe that the 2,200 mSV reading is high enough to provide a lethal radiation dose within hours of exposure.
Tokyo Electric Power Company, which operates the plant, reported in early August that highly contaminated water was leaking from a storage tank. Other leaks have since been reported. Yesterday, the Japanese government announced that it would spend $473 million to build a wall of frozen earth around the damaged nuclear reactors using pipes filled with coolant.
A massive earthquake and subsequent tsunami in March 2011 damaged the cooling systems to three Fukushima plant reactors, which went into meltdown. To cool these reactors, water is constantly being pumped over them. However, storing the resulting large quantities of radioactive water has proved a difficult challenge.
Additional World Book articles:
- Radiation sickness
- Japan 2011 (a Back in Time article)
- Reconsidering Nuclear Power (a special report)