Radiation Jumps Around Fukushima Plant – Now ~1,000% Previous Levels – Tepco Kept Strontium-90 Data Secret For Months – Officials Knew Of Increase But ‘Too Busy’ To Do Anything

Radiation jumps around Fukushima plant — Now ~1,000% previous levels — Tepco kept strontium-90 data secret for months — Officials knew of increase but ‘too busy’ to do anything — Gov’t holds Friday meeting about what can be done (ENENews, Jan 10, 2014):

Asahi Shimbun, Jan. 10, 2014 (emphasis added): [TEPCO] withheld 140 measurements of radioactive strontium levels taken in groundwater and the port of the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant between June and November last year. […] strontium levels exceeded the all-beta readings in some instances, leading the utility to decide they were “wrong” and to withhold them from public releases, TEPCO officials said Jan. 8. Previously, TEPCO officials said they had not released the data because the numbers were not confirmed. Company officials on Jan. 8 insisted the utility had no intention to conceal information. […]

NHK, Jan. 10, 2014 (emphasis added): Nuclear regulators will discuss measures to prevent the increase of radiation levels around the crippled Fukushima Daiichi plant. The level of radiation at the plant’s border rose to more than 8 milisieverts in annualized figures in December, from less than 1 milisievert in March in the same year. The regulators say that’s due to the increasing number of storage tanks for radioactive water at the plant […] They explained that the water basically emits beta-rays, which are too weak to penetrate the steel tanks. But they say, when beta-rays hit metals, stronger X-rays come out of the tanks […] On Friday, the regulators are holding a meeting of experts to discuss measures against the increase. The officials say they have been aware of the problem for a certain period of time, but could not deal with it as they were occupied with the issue of contaminated water. […]

Asahi Shimbun, Jan 10, 2014 (emphasis added): Radiation levels around the boundary of the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant have risen to eight times the government standard of 1 millisievert per year [TEPCO] said. The Nuclear Regulation Authority is scheduled to hold a meeting Jan. 10 to discuss countermeasures […] Beta rays released from radioactive strontium and other substances in the water reacted with iron and other elements in the storage tank containers to generate the X-rays, the officials said. […] With a succession of high radiation levels reported on the plant premises and elsewhere, the NRA set up radiation monitoring devices at an additional 400 locations […]

See also: Study finds giant strontium-90 release into body of water begins around 1,000 days after reactor meltdown — 1,000 days after 3/11 = December 2013 — Graphic shows very high levels discharged for tens of thousands of days

 

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