– Fukushima leak is much more radioactive than Tepco claimed — Almost 20,000 times the legal limit flowed into ocean — Nuclear Official: “They seem to lack even the most basic knowledge about radiation” (ENENews, Oct 3, 2013):
Japan Times, Oct. 3, 2013 (Emphasis Added): New spill at No. 1 laid to typhoon miscalculation […] Authorities are still groping for a solution to the water crisis at the crippled nuclear plant, which is rapidly running out of storage space and facing a growing risk of flooding from typhoons. […] The water contained strontium and tritium and was emitting beta-ray radiation of 580,000 becquerels per liter, according to Tepco, which was apparently trying to drain rainwater from the flood containment area into the tanks during the typhoon. […]
Previous reports of 200,000 Bq/liter
Kyodo News, Oct. 3, 2013: Tepco said Wednesday it detected 200,000 becquerels per liter of beta ray-emitting radioactive substances, including strontium-90, far above the legal limit of 30 becquerels per liter […]NBC News, Oct. 3, 2013: Tokyo Electric Power Company, or TEPCO, said the water which spilled from the storage tanks had radiation readings as high as 200,000 becquerels per liter — almost 6,700 times higher than the legal limit of 30 becquerels.
Tepco not sure how to even measure the radioactivity, let alone contain it?
Associated Press, Oct 3, 2013: In recent meetings, regulators criticized TEPCO for even lacking basic skills to properly measure radioactivity […] “As far as TEPCO people on our contaminated water and sea monitoring panels are concerned, they seem to lack even the most basic knowledge about radiation,” said a Nuclear Regulation Authority commissioner Kayoko Nakamura, a radiologist. “I really think they should acquire adequate expertise and commitment needed for the job,” she said.
They don’t want to know, they don’t want us to know.
We may well be facing our own extinction.
I have often wondered what caused highly developed civilizations to disappear overnight…….
Now, I have a clue. Man is the only species capable of inventing things beyond his abilities to control them……and nuclear power is one.
Since they cannot stop it, they pretend it isn’t happening.
I don’t understand why the world isn’t convening to find a solution…..instead, they do nothing.
This explains a lot to me. We can only go so far until we develop something beyond our abilities to control, then we go back to the trees.
If our species survives, that is where it is going.
Depressing. I used to have hopes we would have space travel in our future……..now, I doubt it. The endless wars have made any space voyage too expensive to contemplate.
Our background radiation levels are normally between 8 and 17 McS. After the initial panic over here in west Europe, I bought a small geiger counter. Checking readings regularly for the first three months, I got a 50% increase (25-27McS) when it rained.
This lasted for just three months, then it dropped back to the upper quartile of normal and has been that ever since, despite all the claims of frightening levels of release.
I don’t know what to believe any more.