No Longer A Rumor

In my post Crack Of Doom I said:

Just to add to the rumor factory. I have seen mentioned that the radiation monitors can read a maximum of 1,000 millisieverts per hour. Which is a very high level for human habitation. If that is the case we do not in fact have a maximum number for dose rate except that it is above 1,000 millisieverts per hour.

Well. It is no longer a rumor.

A radiation monitor at the troubled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant says workers there are exposed to immeasurable levels of radiation.

The monitor told NHK that no one can enter the plant's No. 1 through 3 reactor buildings because radiation levels are so high that monitoring devices have been rendered useless. He said even levels outside the buildings exceed 100 millisieverts in some places.

Pools and streams of water contaminated by high-level radiation are being found throughout the facility.

What happens when the area around the plants becomes too dangerous to work in? Nothing good.

As one commenter at Zero Hedge so aptly put it:

by trav7777 on Tue, 4/05/2011 - 09:44 #1136437

I have a very strong suspicion that the reason the problem looks intractable is because it actually is.

They face the devil of fire and uncontrolled meltdown on one side and the deep blue sea of continued contaminated water leakage on the other. There is no way out through conventional means.

It's pretty clear that the structures containing nuclear fuel have immense leaks now; they cannot contain water. Every drop sprayed becomes a contaminant foreclosing the possibility of getting workers in to fix anything. How can someone fix a leak when what's flowing out of that leak is highly radioactive?

Rock meet hard place or more colloquially Charlie Foxtrot.

Oh. Yeah. New rumor: the spent rod pools of Reactors #5 and #6 are rumored to be cracked and leaking. You hope that sort of thing isn't true. Sadly it probably is. I will report it when it is announced. Officially.

Update: 5 April 2011 1751z

Cracks in spent rod pools #5 an #6 verified. Japanese TV with English voice over (about 2 minutes). Note the announcer crying.

Well that didn't take long.

Cross Posted at Classical Values