Fukushima radiation at highest levels since crisis began

[franzia99]

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-27/tokyo-water-radiation-falls-to-zero-for-first-time-since-crisis.html

Radiation readings at Japan’s Fukushima Dai-Ichi station rose to the highest since an earthquake and tsunami knocked out cooling systems, impeding efforts to contain the worst nuclear crisis since Chernobyl.

Two robots sent into the reactor No. 1 building at the plant yesterday took readings as high as 1,120 millisierverts of radiation per hour, Junichi Matsumoto, a general manager at Tokyo Electric Power Co., said today. That’s more than four times the annual dose permitted to nuclear workers at the stricken plant.

[aquart]

1. Now what?

[Paradoxical]

2. We wait.

There is really nothing we can do other than continue to pump water through.

Unless we somehow gain the ability to rebuild the structure around the reactors. Which at current levels of radioactivity seems unlikely.

[aquart]

3. Wait for what?

[Paradoxical]

4. Well, technically we have to wait until the fuel is cool enough to entomb.

And I'm not entirely certain how long that takes. I know it took almost a decade of wait before they opened up 3 mile island. But that was a different circumstance.

This could be longer. Significantly longer.

[franzia99]

5. Gunderson suggested we lobby the government for

effective monitoring of fallout in the air, water, food. Also, we need to demand that our nuclear power plants are safe (according to rolling stone article they aren't http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/blogs/national-affairs/americas-nuclear-nightmare-a-dozen-fukushimas-waiting-to-happen-20110427).

Plus, the Tepco execs and bureaucrats responsible need to be thrown in prison.

[Wilms]

6. :(