Highly radioactive water was found in the basement of the turbine building of Fukushima Daiichi units 1, 2 and 3, according to a report from the Japan Atomic Industry Forum, 27 March. Surface radiation was more than 60 mSv/hr, 1000 mSv/hr, and 750 mSv/hr respectively.
The contaminated water probably came from the reactors rather than the spent fuel pools because of particular radionuclides found, it reported.
TEPCO has already began pumping water from unit 1 into turbine building condensers, and is studying and/or preparing to do so in the other two units.
The BBC reports that workers have been evacuated.
In other news, Japanese authorities advised residents living between 20km and 30km of the plant to leave, but has not required them to do so. They had previously been instructed to stay indoors.
Regular updates may be found on the website of our sister journal, Nuclear Engineering International, reachable on <www.neimagazine.com> or by clicking on the link in the navigation bar to the left of this page.
The NEI magazine report of this story includes collected data of Fukushima Daiichi parameters from the past week, including the degree of fuel rod exposure, and reactor vessel pressures, and spent fuel pool temperatures. The information is collected by the Japan Atomic Industrial Forum on a twice-daily basis from government reports.
The following sites are also posting continuing updates:
<http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/index-e.html>
<http://www.iaea.org/>
<http://www.jaif.or.jp/english/>
<http://bravenewclimate.com/2011/03/15/tepco-reactor-status/>
<http://www.world-nuclear-news.org/>
<http://www.kantei.go.jp/foreign/index-e.html>
