Tag: nuclear meltdown

UPDATE 1-Japan says plutonium found at Fukushima

http://af.reuters.com/article/…

TOKYO, March 28 (Reuters) – Plutonium has been found in soil at various points within Japan’s stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear complex but does not present a risk to human health, operator Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) said on Monday.

And

Hazardous Radiation Detected Outside Damaged Japanese Reactor

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/…

Radiation levels that can prove fatal were detected outside reactor buildings at Japan’s Fukushima Dai-Ichi plant for the first time, complicating efforts to contain the worst disaster since Chernobyl in 1986.

http://www.presstv.ir/detail/1…

Japanese officials have expressed alarm over a possible fracture of a reactor core at one unit of the troubled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.

Okay! That’s the (extremely) bad news! Now for the good news!

“Our data suggest the reactor retains certain containment functions,” says  Hidehiko Nishiyama, a spokesman for the nuclear safety agency.

“Certain containment functions!” You could say the same thing about a sieve!

But the worst news was buried way way down in the article from PressTV, and never even mentioned by the NY Times.

“Reports indicate that a number of Japanese people who lived between 200 and 350 kilometers away from the plant have been hospitalized for exposure to radioactive materials.”

HOSPITALIZED for radiation! 200 MILES AWAY FROM FUKUSHIMA!

And Tokyo, that enormous city, is only 130 miles away from Fukushima.

Black smoke at Fukushima

Fukushima Daiichi’s Reactor No. 3 began belching black smoke for an hour late in the afternoon, leading its operator, the Tokyo Electric Power Company, to evacuate workers. No. 3 is considered one of the most dangerous of the reactors because of its fuel – mixed oxides, or mox, which contain a mixture of uranium and plutonium and can produce a more dangerous radioactive plume if scattered by fire or explosions.

This is very bad news, kiddies! Black smoke ain’t steam! It means something dirty is burning!

And what could be burning, in a nuclear reactor full of melting uranium and plutonium?