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Friday, March 18, 2011

Japan : Radiation down consistently at one point in Fukushima plant

From Japan Today :

" Radiation readings at the troubled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant have consistently followed a downward path through Friday morning, according to Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency measurements taken roughly 1 kilometer west of the plant’s No. 2 reactor.

The agency also said Friday the radiation reading at 5 a.m. Friday came to 279.4 microsievert per hour, compared with 292.2 microsievert per hour at 8:40 p.m. Thursday, shortly after the Self-Defense Forces discharged water from fire trucks in an attempt to cool an apparently overheating spent fuel pool.

In an unprecedented move, up to 64 tons of water was discharged by helicopters and fire trucks of the SDF as well as a water cannon truck of the Metropolitan Police Department into the pool at the No. 3 unit of Tokyo Electric Power Co’s Fukushima plant Thursday.

The mission will continue Friday as part of the effort to avert any massive release of radioactive materials into the air from the pool, while efforts to restore the lost cooling function by reconnecting electricity to the plant through outside power lines have accelerated, according to the government.

The spent fuel pools at the power station lost their cooling function after the quake and tsunami struck last Friday. It is also no longer possible to monitor the water level and temperature of the pools of the No. 1 to 4 units."

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