Some fairly level headed reporting on Japan Broadcasting Corporation - follow the scene on: http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/society.html
TEPCO: 1% of radioactive iodine released outside
Tokyo Electric Power Company estimates that about one percent of the radioactive iodine at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant has been released since the March 11th earthquake and tsunami damaged the facility.
The company on Tuesday announced the estimated radioactivity levels of all substances at the plant's 6 reactors and fuel storage pools at the time of the disaster.
The estimates are classified under radioactive noble gases, iodine or other materials.
81 million tera-becquerels of iodine-131 are believed to have existed at the plant.
The utility says the amount of iodine-131 released outside the plant is about one percent of the total with a margin of error included. The Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency said earlier in the day that 130,000 tera-becquerels of iodine-131 have been released so far.
The company also says that, provided no leak occurred, the level of iodine-131 at the plant had fallen to less than one-hundredth of the pre-disaster level as of Monday.
The level declines naturally, as the radioactivity of iodine-131 falls by half in 8 days.
Wednesday, April 13, 2011 03:18 +0900 (JST)
Removal of radioactive water begins
The operator of the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant has begun work to remove highly radioactive water after a one-day delay due to a series of earthquakes since Monday.
Tokyo Electric Power Company started transferring radiation-contaminated wastewater from a tunnel outside the Number 2 reactor to a turbine condenser on Tuesday evening.
The radioactive water had been hampering work to restore cooling functions in the damaged reactors.
Earlier in the day, a quake with an intensity of six-minus on the Japanese scale of zero to 7 hit the plant.
The external power supply to the plant remained intact, and injection of water to cool the Numbers 1, 2 and 3 reactors continued.
Injection of nitrogen gas into the Number 1 reactor containment vessel to prevent a hydrogen blast has been continuing without any interruptions.
But the pressure level inside the container has remained flat over the past few days, suggesting that certain gases may be leaking out of the vessel. The power company says there has been no significant change in radiation levels around the plant.
On Tuesday morning, a fire broke out in a seawater sampling facility, but was put out about 7 minutes later.
The plant operator believes a battery short-circuited.
(20min delay)