Perilous
Times
Record high radiation at Japan nuke plant
* From: AAP
* August 01, 2011 11:12PM
TOKYO Electric Power Co (TEPCO) said it had monitored record high
radiation at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant crippled by
the March 11 quake and tsunami.
TEPCO said radiation levels reached at least 10 sieverts per hour
near the debris left between the number one and number two
reactors of the plant at the centre of the ongoing nuclear crisis.
The previous record was three to four sieverts per hour monitored
inside the number one reactor on June 3.
"Three plant workers were exposed to a dosage of four
millisieverts while they were monitoring radiation," a TEPCO
spokeswoman said. "We are still checking the cause of such high
levels of radioactivity."
The government and TEPCO say they remain on target to bring the
reactors to a safe state of cold shutdown by January at the latest
now that a water circulation system has been established.
Efforts to stabilise the worst nuclear crisis since Chernobyl 25
years ago have continued since a 9.0 magnitude earthquake
triggered a tsunami, sparking reactor meltdowns at the plant and
spewing radiation into the environment.
The government has said radiation levels around the plant, which
lies 220 kilometres from Tokyo, had fallen to "two-millionths" of
the peak recorded March 15.
Tens of thousands of people remain evacuated from homes,
businesses and farms in a no-go zone around the plant.