Another one bites the dust It’s now at least the seventh robot to have broken down while investigating > Fukushima’s nuclear reactors, which remain highly radioactive. *Reuters* had > counted up to five by March 2016 > <http://www.reuters.com/article/us-japan-disaster-decommissioning-idUSKCN0WB2X5>. > Last week, a scouting robot was sent in > <http://www.theverge.com/2017/2/10/14580674/fukushima-record-high-radiation-cleaning-robot-recalled> > ahead > to clear the way for the scorpion robot, but it was pulled back out after > about two hours: the camera had been fried > <http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/press/corp-com/release/2017/1375551_10469.html> by > record high levels of radiation estimated to be about 650 sieverts per > hour > <http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/nu/fukushima-np/handouts/2017/images/handouts_170215_02-e.pdf>. > (For scale, a CT scan exposes you > <http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/nu/fukushima-np/handouts/2017/images/handouts_170215_02-e.pdf%20> > to > 0.006 sieverts, and just half a sievert > <http://news.mit.edu/2011/explained-radioactivity-0328> is enough to > cause symptoms of radiation sickness.)
http://www.theverge.com/2017/2/17/14652274/fukushima-nuclear-robot-power-plant-radiation-decomission-tepco On Sat, Feb 18, 2017 at 2:55 PM, Jed Rothwell <[email protected]> wrote: > Here are two other frightening data points. > > 1. Some years ago, NHK (national TV) had a special on the effect on > wildlife in Fukushima Pref. There has been a tremendous increase in the > animal population because humans evacuated farmland. It is all growing back > into forest. That part is okay. But some animal species that eat a lot of > plants are highly contaminated. Wild boars are common in Japan. They are > omnivores, eating lots of plants. Biologists have been trapping and > shooting them. Animals taken up to 50 km from the reactors are too > contaminated for human consumption by factor up to ~6,000. (I don't recall > the units, but anyway, they exceed the limits by that much.) > > The boars seem pretty healthy despite their contaminated tissue. I am not > sure if that is good news or bad news. > > 2. Tadahiko Mizuo has a degree in nuclear engineering. During the cold > war, he monitored North Korea with 1960s instruments on the roof of the > Engineering Dept. building. That building was torn down some years ago, so > those instruments are gone, but anyway, after the accident the government > dragged him and other superannuated experts out of retirement and asked > them to analyze soil samples for radioactivity. Some of the samples they > sent him were so hot he was afraid to work with them, and he wasn't sure > where to store them at night. He risked harming someone, or contaminating > the locked cabinets. > > - Jed > >
