Though not totally unexpected, we do still find it bothersome that 10 workers at the Fukushima site recently tested positive for radiation on their skin and in their hair — meaning that the site may actually have more ‘leaks’ than previously announced.
Again, not totally unexpected given the manner in which TEPCO surreptitiously (and many say incompetently) attempted to contain the radiation leaving the Fukushima site.
An article we ran across this morning published on Monday had this to say:
- Ten workers at Japan’s crippled Fukushima nuclear plant conducting cleanup activities at the site tested positive for exposure to small amounts of radiation.
- As of the time that article’s publishing, officials did not know how or when the workers became contaminated, though the term ‘radioactive dust’ did get mentioned as a possibility.
- Power and cooling systems at the nuclear facility became damaged and/or destroyed as a result of the March 2011 earthquake and resultant tsunami that wreaked havoc on the region.
- Large amounts of radiation escaped containment as a result of the earthquake and tsunami and TEPCO engineers on-site still have not gotten the plant’s leaks fully contained.
- Experts have installed temporary equipment to help keep the reactor(s) cool but power issues and water leaks have hampered containment efforts.
Personally, we wonder exactly HOW MUCH radiation has escaped this facility and in what form. Mostly as runoff water from the facility or did a fair amount escape in an airborne manner (i.e. as dust carried away by winds)?
No matter what, we don’t suspect that no one will want to swim in the ocean anywhere near that facility for many years to come, if ever again. Plus, given the fact that TEPCO seems to have attempted to keep some (disturbing) facts about site cleanup efforts out of the spotlight for so long, we suspect a lot more (disturbing) information will come to light in the coming months.
And in conclusion?
We intend to keep personal radiation monitors in the Emergency Preparedness/Readiness Kits we have in our homes.
