Japan: Radioactive Iodine Around Fukushima Nuclear Plant 4,300 Times Above Norm
By Ria Novosti
The concentration of radioactive iodine in seawater near Japan’s crippled Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant is currently 4,385 times above the norm, the Kyodo news agency reported on Thursday.
The figure has rapidly increased over 1,000 times since Wednesday, when levels of radioactive iodine-131 isotope in the sea near the plant were 3,355 times higher than normal.
The nuclear crisis at Fukushima was prompted by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami that killed more than 11,000 people in northeastern Japan. Radiation leaks were reported after fires and blasts, caused by the collapse of the plant’s cooling system.
Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said on Wednesday it was time to start thinking about closing down all six reactors at Fukushima, although reactors No. 5 and 6 have been less problematic than the other four and are already in a state of cold shutdown.
They continue to pump millions of gallons of water over the reactor cores and over the spent fuel rods in these various power plants. They have no way of capturing and holding this water that is contaminated and cleaning it before it is going to flow back into the ocean or seep down into the fresh water table there in Japan.