Japan live blog: Company says radiation exposure could have been avoided
Local residents clear debris around their homes in the town of Otsuchi in Iwate prefecture on March 26.
March 26th, 2011
05:55 AM ET

Japan live blog: Company says radiation exposure could have been avoided

A magnitude 9.0 earthquake hit northern Japan on March 11, triggering tsunamis that caused widespread devastation and crippled a nuclear power plant. Are you in an affected area? Send an iReport. Read the full report on the quake's aftermath and check out our interactive explainer on Japan's damaged nuclear reactors.

[5:30 a.m. ET Saturday, 6:41 p.m. Saturday in Tokyo] An official with the Tokyo Electric Power Company, which runs the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, apologized Saturday and said the exposure of three workers to highly radioactive water could have been avoided with better communication.

Hideyuki Koyama said tests of water found in the basement of the No. 1 reactor's turbine building on March 18 showed high levels of radiation.

That fact - and a general sense that water accumulating in turbine and others buildings around the plant may be dangerously radioactive - did not appear to resonate on March 24 during an operation in the No. 3 reactor's turbine building. On that date, three workers were exposed to between 173 and 181 millisieverts of radiation, including two with direct exposure on their skin, while laying cable.

Koyama said that radiation alarms went off while the men were working, but they continued with their mission for between 40 and 50 minutes assuming it was a false alarm.

[1:55 a.m. ET Saturday, 2:55 p.m. Saturday in Tokyo] Airborne radiation levels continue to fall outside the stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, though concerns remain about potentially ominous breaches in reactor cores after water showed alarming radiation levels in tests at two locales.

An official with the Tokyo Electric Power Co. - which operates the facility - told reporters Saturday that water samples from the turbine buildings for the Nos. 1 and 2 reactors similarly found high levels of radiation.

 Post by:
Filed under: 2011 tsunami • Japan • Uncategorized
soundoff (163 Responses)
  1. L64

    Ak is alaska! Ar. 🙂 weather can be in the teens to the 50s. Every day can be different. I teach school.

    March 26, 2011 at 4:38 pm | Report abuse |
  2. Jazz7

    Yes forgive me , AR. Thats about what we get to but not 50's thats for sure , maybe Tx , my sister lives there

    March 26, 2011 at 4:41 pm | Report abuse |
  3. L64

    Tx is hotter of course.

    March 26, 2011 at 4:43 pm | Report abuse |
  4. Blue Eyes

    I can always check it out first , if I dont like it, I have about a dozen other states I can look at .

    March 26, 2011 at 4:51 pm | Report abuse |
  5. L64

    I like being a southerner.

    March 26, 2011 at 4:54 pm | Report abuse |
  6. L64

    Yes, and in this economy you go where the jobs are. I saw on a news show that many northerners are moving south.

    March 26, 2011 at 4:57 pm | Report abuse |
  7. Jazz7

    why didnt that post , any way , yes that is a factor and a big one at this time especially

    March 26, 2011 at 5:00 pm | Report abuse |
  8. banasy

    Hi, Jazz7, hi, L64, hi, Ruffie, Hi, Herbert, hi everybody I may have missed. How's everybody on this fine Saturday?

    March 26, 2011 at 5:02 pm | Report abuse |
  9. L64

    Times are hard everywhere for sure.

    March 26, 2011 at 5:03 pm | Report abuse |
  10. L64

    Doing well banasy. And yourself?

    March 26, 2011 at 5:04 pm | Report abuse |
  11. Jazz7

    Banasy , how are u ? Love your name by the way how did u come up with that?

    March 26, 2011 at 5:13 pm | Report abuse |
  12. banasy

    Doing just fine, ladies, thanks. As for my name, Jazz7, it's just a derivative of my name. I've been blogging under it for years and years now!

    March 26, 2011 at 5:29 pm | Report abuse |
  13. gkaylor

    So do these guys just take the weekend off or something? I highly doubt there is nothing to report in the last 12 hours, given the dire situation...

    March 26, 2011 at 5:29 pm | Report abuse |
  14. L64

    Gk, no idea!

    March 26, 2011 at 5:32 pm | Report abuse |
  15. Jazz7

    @ Banasy, what do you do for a living ?

    March 26, 2011 at 5:43 pm | Report abuse |
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
« Back to main