Post-disaster nuclear safety efforts continue in Japan - 4 Aug 2011

Post-disaster nuclear safety efforts continue in Japan. As the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant continues struggling to recover from the radiation accident associated with the March 11 disaster, the facility's operator Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) reported on Monday, August 1 that record-high radiation levels had been detected at the site. Discovered between the reactor No. 1 and 2 buildings on a pipe that workers had been working near, the amount exceeded the maximum reading on the Geiger counters used, which was 10000 millisieverts per hour. At such readings, the maximum exposure of 250 millisieverts per year allowed for Fukushima employees would be reached in only 90 seconds. Full exposure to 10000 millisieverts, according to the World Nuclear Association, could cause death within a few weeks. TEPCO said that the three workers who found the radiation were exposed to an estimated 4 millisieverts of radiation. On Tuesday, the utility also announced a detection of the highest-ever indoor levels of radioactivity as 5000 millisieverts per hour was found on the second floor of the reactor No. 1 building. While TEPCO has restricted workers from going near these areas, concerns are heightened about where else such levels might be found and the effect this would have on continued efforts to bring the nuclear reactors under control. On Tuesday, the Japanese government extended a ban on cattle shipments from Tochigi Prefecture, with shipments already prohibited from Iwate ...
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