Fukushima Nuclear Reactor Continues to Contaminate the Pacific Ocean with its Radiation Leak

By Lester Mondragon | Feb 06, 2017 11:02 AM EST

The Fukushima reactor was the first nuclear facility built to the standards in concurrence with GE, Boise and Tokyo Electric Power Corporation (TEPCO) in Fukushima, Japan. It suffered serious damage from a 9.0 magnitude earthquake. A tsunami resulted lashing at the reactor causing the leaking facility to wash out the radiation to the Pacific.

 Records show that radiation levels are at its peak since the Fukushima nuclear plant's meltdown in 2011. Reactor number 2 has a record of 530 Sieverts an hour. An exposure to one Sievert will cause sickness to humans. 5 Sieverts is nauseating and 8 Sieverts causes death even with treatment, reported by The Guardian.

The radioactive contamination of the Fukushima Nuclear Plant, swept by the Kurushio current, now reached as far British Columbia and California. The radiation materials detected in these areas contain the two isotopes of Cesium that recently began to appear in the Eastern Pacific shores.

According to scientists, the released amount of cesium would take 5,000 years compared to the magnitude released that took only a few months spewed out by the Fukushima Nuclear Plant.

Dr.Ken Buesseler, a marine radiochemist with the Woods Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) and Director of WHOI Center for Marine and Environmental Radioactivity, claims that the Fukushima Nuclear Reactors continue to splurge deadly contaminants into the Pacific. The situation is not under control as what the Japanese Atomic Energy Agency declares, he added, reported PBS News Hour.

The latest radiation level reading of the Fukushima Nuclear Plant is off the chart. TEPCO's goal is to remove the fuel debris from the reactor so the Plant can be decommissioned. The situation of the gaping hole in the reactor escalated the difficulty. The melted fuel debris condition is unavailable due to the high radiation level in the vessels that is impossible to check.

The National Institute for Nuclear Decommissioning is sending an unmanned robot to check on the premises for levels of radiation of the reactor. However, the robot could last for up to two hours only and begins to malfunction due to radiation levels, reported The Japan Times.

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