Tepco Finds Dangerous Level
of Radiation at Fukushima Station
Fukushima Power Plant
EMF Protection Devices
Magnetic Field Detector
November 07, 2011 | By Chris Cooper
Nov. 6 (Bloomberg) -- Tokyo Electric Power Co. found a
dangerous level of radiation at its wrecked Fukushima
nuclear plant, eight months after the March 11 earthquake
and tsunami that caused the worst atomic crisis in 25 years.
Workers at the company usually called Tepco detected 620
millisieverts of radiation an hour on the first floor of
Reactor 3 on Nov. 3, the highest level found in that unit,
it said.
The level of radiation is more than the 500-millisievert
short-term dose recommended as the maximum for emergency
workers in live-saving situations, according to the World
Nuclear Association. The company and government officials
are trying to contain the worst nuclear crisis since
Chernobyl in 1986 after the March 11 earthquake and tsunami
caused a loss of cooling and the meltdowns of three
reactors.
Tepco will today start taking radiation out of water used to
cool spent fuel rods, spokesman Hiroki Kawamata said today
by phone.
The utility will start decontaminating coolant water for
spent rods held in the upper section of Reactor 2, which was
relatively undamaged in the explosions that rocked the
Fukushima Dai-Ichi plant in March.
Tepco on Nov. 4 won approval for a 900 billion yen ($11.5
billion) bailout from the government after the Fukushima
nuclear catastrophe to avert bankruptcy and start paying
compensation for the crisis.
Support Approved
Trade and Industry Minister Yukio Edano approved the support
after Tepco committed to cutting 7,400 jobs and 2.5 trillion
yen in costs. The utility forecast an annual loss of 600
billion yen, its second since the March earthquake and
tsunami wrecked its Fukushima nuclear plant.
The government of Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda is stepping
in to ensure residents, farmers, fishermen and forestry
businesses are properly compensated by a utility that
supplies power to 29 million customers in the political and
economic heart of Japan.
The forecast by Japan’s biggest utility brings its losses to
1.8 trillion yen since the disaster. The company plans to
cut about 14 percent of its workforce and shave off the
costs during the next 10 years, it said in a statement last
week.
Tepco shares fell 0.7 percent to 300 yen at the close in
Tokyo on Nov. 4. They are down 86 percent since three
reactors melted down at the Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear plant
north of Tokyo. The company reported first-half earnings at
about 4 p.m. after the market closed on Nov. 4.
Reporting Losses
Tepco had a 627.3 billion yen loss in the six months to
Sept. 30 against a profit of 92 billion yen a year earlier.
It’s forecasting an operating loss of 305 billion yen for
the full- year, according to its earnings statement.
Its loss was 1.25 trillion yen in the year to March 31 and
572 billion yen in this year’s first quarter.
The reactor meltdowns in Fukushima forced 160,000 people to
flee radiation and damaged fishing, farming and forestry
businesses.
“Tepco must compensate those affected with sincerity and
generosity as well as carry out a thorough reorganization,”
Edano told reporters in Tokyo on Nov. 4.
Higashi-Dori village about 600 kilometers (380 miles) north
of Tokyo and the host village of one of the nuclear power
plants shut down in the disaster, received 15.7 billion yen
from nuclear operators, the Asahi newspaper reported today.
Tepco and Tohoku Electric Power Co., which have had all
their east coast atomic stations shut down in the disaster,
paid the donations and fees over a 30 year period, the
newspaper said.
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