More problems of radiation in No2 reactor

June 14, 2012

High radiation one floor above reactor

Tokyo Electric Power Company says it has detected extremely high levels of radiation on a floor just above the No. 2 reactor at the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant.

TEPCO sent a robot into the reactor building on Wednesday to take video images and radiation measurements.

The company said a reading of 880 millisieverts per hour of radiation was detected on the fifth floor, which is 4.5 meters above the reactor containment vessel.

TEPCO suspects radioactive substances leaked from the No. 2 reactor moved through the location.

The company said after analyzing the images taken by the robot it could not find the exact route the radioactive substances traveled. TEPCO added no major damage was found on the floor.

During the Fukushima nuclear accident the No. 2 reactor is believed to have released the largest amount of radioactive substances. But the overall route they took has not been determined.

TEPCO needs to find and repair the damaged parts of the reactor to recover melted nuclear fuel before starting to decommission the reactor. But it says high radiation often stops workers from entering the building. This scenario means it will take a long time to find the problems in the containment vessel.