Radiation Is Through The Roof At Fukushima Again

Six years on from the massive earthquake and tsunami that triggered the Fukushima nuclear meltdown, radiation levels are once again through the roof. 

Atmospheric readings as high as 530 sieverts an hour have been recorded inside the containment vessel of reactor number two, according to Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco), the facility’s operator. To put that in perspective, a single sievert is enough to cause radiation sickness and nausea, 5 sieverts would kill half those exposed to it within a month, and a single dose of 10 sieverts would prove fatal within weeks. The previous record in that part of the reactor was 73 sieverts an hour. The Guardian reports that some experts have described the readings as “unimaginable.”

A hole was also discovered in metal grating beneath the same reactor’s pressure vessel, though the firm said radiation was not leaking outside the reactor.

Japan’s east coast, where the Fukushima reactor is located, is one of the country’s most popular surfing and swimming areas. Miwa, a mother from nearby Iwaki, 50 kilometers south of Fukushima, told Stab it was still business as usual along the coast with local officials keeping residents up to date on the radiation levels.

“No worry, no worry, it’s safe now…my friends enjoy surfing in Iwaki,” she says. 

“Every day Fukushima prefecture measure the radiation level. The amount is very low, the same as Paris in France or Beijing or something like that…we eat the fish, we drink the water,” she says.