The Government of Japan has been working hard on convincing us that everything is almost under control at TEPCO’s troubled Daiichi power station. As long as they keep the water pumping, they will be able to keep the nuclear reaction from spiraling out of control and keep an accident from becoming a catastrophe. On the scale of nuclear accidents they said that Fukushima was a 4 out of 7; Three-mile Island and Chernobyl were 5 and 7, respectively.
As the crow, and radiation flies I am almost exactly 300 kilometers from TEPCO’s Daini power station, which is facing a nuclear crisis of its own. Dangerous radiation levels have been detected around the plant, which is to be expected when they are venting radioactive steam. As long as those reactor containers remain intact, the radioactivity of the steam at the plants will be short-lived. If the containers are breached by the overheating fuel rods contained within then things will take a turn for the worse.
At the moment, it seems that at least one of the reactor containers has cracked. Whether that means longer-lived radioactive materials are escaping into the atmosphere. The Government of Japan and TEPCO have categorically ruled out a Chernobyl scale disaster – but you have to wonder whether the situation might not be getting ready to bypass Three-mile Island’s 5 and head straight to 6.
At the moment, 50 brave souls are manning makeshift cooling equipment at the Daiichi plant. Eight hundred non-essential workers have been evacuated. Spare a thought for those guys if you are having a bad day – chances are they won’t be getting any sleep for the next couple of days and may have a lifetime of medical worries after that.
Geiger counter in Hino, Tokyo – note the spike
