The level of danger at the Fukushima Nuclear power plant will be raised to serious by Japan’s Nuclear Regulation Authority, according to the most recent reports. Earlier this morning it was revealed that the destroyed power plant was leaking water with dangerously high levels of radiation into the ground.
The nuclear energy authority will raise the danger level at the power plant from a level one “anomaly” to a level three “serious incident”. The maximum number on the scale is seven. That level was declared during the original failure of the power plant in the wake of the 2011 tsunami that caused the damage.
Fukushima radiation leakage a serious incident
According to experts studying the Fukushima leak, a person standing 1.6 feet away from the leak would experience enough radiation in ten hours to give them radiation sickness. Just an hour of standing the same distance from the leak would deliver a dose of radiation ten times higher than recommended intake.
The water is leaking from one of the power plant’s water storage tanks. The leak is one of the biggest challenges that has faced authorities since the country began to clean up the disaster in 2011. The raising of the threat level by Japan’s Nuclear Regulation Authority is a serious indicator of the severity of the situation, and that there has not been as yet any successful effort in plugging the leak.
Employees checking storage tanks
Workers at the site in the employ of Tokyo Electric Power Company were checking each of the power plant’s 1,000 storage tanks for evidence of further leaks after the current problem was noticed by an employee last Monday. Safety authorities fear that the 300 tonnes of escaped material might be able to reach the sea, an occurrence that would cause renewed environmental crises at the power facility.
The regulators who upgraded the level of the incident today said that in some respects Tokyo Electric Power Company was unable to cope with the leak. The new danger level is the highest it has been since the initial crisis more than two years ago. Japanese efforts to deal with the problem are of concern to its citizens and neighbors, as well as nuclear power and other energy interests.
