When nuclear power goes wrong, it really goes wrong.
Local contamination around Fukushima is probably worse than first thought:
The team says that, for the first time, the fallout of Fukushima
Daiichi nuclear reactor fuel debris into the surrounding environment has
been "explicitly revealed" by the study.
The scientists have been looking at extremely small pieces of debris,
known as micro-particles, which were released into the environment
during the initial disaster in 2011. The researchers discovered uranium
from nuclear fuel embedded in or associated with caesium-rich micro
particles that were emitted from the plant's reactors during the
meltdowns. The particles found measure just five micrometres or less;
approximately 20 times smaller than the width of a human hair. The size
of the particles means humans could inhale them.
The reactor debris fragments were found inside the nuclear exclusion
zone, in paddy soils and at an abandoned aquaculture centre, located
several kilometres from the nuclear plant.
It was previously thought that only volatile, gaseous radionuclides
such as caesium and iodine were released from the damaged reactors. Now
it is becoming clear that small, solid particles were also emitted, and
that some of these particles contain very long-lived radionuclides; for
example, uranium has a half-life of billions of years.
Update: more news along similar lines, from The Japan Times:
In the wake of the 2011 nuclear crisis, radiation levels at homes and
areas nearby in a Fukushima village remain around three times higher
than the government target despite cleanup work having been performed,
an environmental group has said.
In some areas of the village of Iitate and the town of Namie, levels
of radioactivity detected at some points among tens of thousands checked
in surveys last September and October were higher than they had been
the previous year, Greenpeace Japan said in a report released Thursday.
Most of the six houses surveyed in Iitate, located around
40 kilometers northwest of the crippled Fukushima No. 1 complex, logged
radiation levels higher than the government-set target of 0.23
microsieverts per hour, ranging from 0.2 to 0.8 microsieverts per hour.
Some
areas in the village had seen radiation levels rise from 2016,
Greenpeace said. “There is a possibility (the environment) was
contaminated again as radioactive materials that had accumulated in
nearby forests may have moved around,” it said.
1 comment:
Hey Steve,
I don't think we are receiving anywhere near the whole story on Fukushima disaster.
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