Nuclear Accidents

Jacob Namminga, one of our radiation safety advisors, spoke to Brian Fitzgerald at our international office, about the radiation monitoring that began on Saturday March 26, in a rural area of Japan to the north west of the Fukushima nuclear plant.

The trip's aim was to asses the true extent of radiation risks to the local population, which has reported radiation levels of up to ten micro sieverts per hour in Iitate village, 20km beyond the official evacuation zone - levels high enough to require evacuation. As told to Brian, here are Jacob's reflections on the trip.

Reuters has a new video report on the impacts of earthquake-struck Japan's recent nuclear accident, which means Kawashaki nuclear plant will be closed indefinitely:

Japan's killer earthquake left its biggest nuclear power company facing financial losses, supply questions, and demands for greater safety.

The video's here (there's an advert before the Reuters report starts).

On Monday, an earthquake hit Kashiwazaki in north-western Japan, killing nine people and injuring hundreds more. Already a disaster for the citizens of Kashiwazaki, thousands of whom are now living in shelters, things could have been much, much worse.

Kawashaki is the location of the world’s biggest nuclear power plant – the site of seven nuclear reactors. At first it was thought that the 6.8 magnitude earthquake had just caused a fire at the plant and Tepco – the nuclear company - initially said no radioactivity was released. "No harm" was done, said a spokesperson.

Then we were told that in fact there had been a leak, but it was only 1.5 gallons of radioactive water. On Tuesday, it emerged that just a smidgen more radioactive water might have leaked than 1.5 gallons. About 243 times more. And the water was 50 times more radioactive than had been stated.