Radiation level at Tsuruga plant 11,500 times legal safety limit

["Sandy Perle" <sandyfl@earthlink.net>]

Thanks to Ross Pastel who forwarded this news article to me:

Radiation level at Tsuruga plant 11,500 times legal safety limit 

Yomiuri Shimbun

TSURUGA?C Fukui -- Monday's coolant leak at a nuclear plant in 
Tsuruga, Fukui Prefecture, caused radiation levels inside the reactor 
building to shoot up 11,500 times the legal safety limit.  

The finding was announced by Japan Atomic Power Co. (Genden), which 
operates the Tsuruga nuclear power station. Massive leakage of 
radioactive cooling water occurred Monday at the station's No. 2 
reactor.  

Genden initially said the level of contamination was at least 1,000 
becquerels, 250 times the limit. The firm corrected the figure to 
46,000 becquerels for Monday. The disparity was due to a lack of 
accurate data, Genden said.  

"We did not know the highest level of contamination because workers 
were still measuring it," a Genden official said.  

The firm set the limit at four becquerels per square centimeter based 
on the Nuclear Reactors Control Law.  

Radiation of 46,000 becquerels was detected in a room on the second-
level basement, which is nine meters below a cracked stainless steel 
pipe which is believed to be the source of the leak.  

Radiation higher than 1,000 becquerels was also detected at several 
locations on that floor. About 2,800 becquerels of radiation was 
detected in a passage, according to Masao Hamada, deputy head of 
Genden's Tsuruga station.  

Genden workers continued to remove the water from the room Thursday, 
but with the extremely high level of radiation, the technicians can 
work only five hours a day by law, according to Genden officials. 
Genden allows each person to work from two to three hours a day.  

"This is the highest level of radioactivity I have ever heard of 
concerning accidents in Japan, and is an extremely serious 
situation," said Hiroaki Koide of Kyoto University's Research Reactor 
Institute.  

"If the level of contamination is actually that high, cleanup efforts 
may expose workers to dangerous levels of radiation," he said.  

An official at the Wakasa branch of Kansai Electric Power Co. in 
Mihamacho, Fukui Prefecture, said: "The level of radioactivity is 
quite high and those cleaning up the area could be exposed to 
radiation by touching the equipment or approaching the site, but it 
will be safe if they limit the number of hours spent at the site." 
Kansai Electric operates 11 nuclear reactors.  

An official at the Natural Resources and Energy Agency's Nuclear 
Power Operating Administration Office said there was no cause for 
alarm.  

"We measured a maximum level of 46,000 becquerels early Thursday 
morning. I have been told that the cleanup effort is being conducted 
at a location with radiation levels of 2,800 becquerels for five 
hours per person. Even if the level was 46,000 becquerels, this is 
something we encounter in regular inspections, and there is no safety 
problem," he said.  

Meanwhile, Genden officials said on Wednesday that the leaked water 
flooded almost half of the second-level basement.  

According to an investigation conducted by the company, about 51 tons 
of primary cooling water leaked from the cracked pipe, measuring 1.1 
centimeters in diameter. The pipe was located on the building's first 
underground level and was used to connect regenerated-heat 
exchangers.  

The leaked water seeped through the first underground level down to 
the second-level basement, flooding areas containing various types of 
machinery, including reactors.  

Although some of the water was contained in two of the plant's three 
tank pools, which are located on the second underground level and 
have a total capacity of 33 tons, it continued to flood almost half 
the 650-square-meter area.

Sandy Perle
E-Mail: sandyfl@earthlink.net 
Personal Website: http://www.geocities.com/capecanaveral/1205

"The object of opening the mind, as of opening 
the mouth, is to close it again on something solid"
              - G. K. Chesterton -
************************************************************************
The RADSAFE Frequently Asked Questions list, archives and subscription
information can be accessed at http://www.ehs.uiuc.edu/~rad/radsafe.html