Radiation at Japanese Nuclear Plant Hits Record Level
A robot sent into Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power facility has detected the highest levels of radiation since the devastating earthquake and tsunami damaged the plant in March. Radiation levels near the plant’s No. 1 reactor have reportedly reached 4,000 millisieverts per hour, an exposure level roughly equivalent to 40,000 chest X-rays. The Tokyo Electric Power Company says it will not send workers into the area due to the dangerously high levels of radioactivity. An estimated 40,000 tons of “highly-contaminated” radioactive water are believed to be resting below the reactor. Japanese officials have begun moving in large tanks to remove the water.
Japan Doubles Estimate of Radiation Leaked from Nuke Plant
Japanese authorities are now admitting the nuclear crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power facility was far more severe than they had previously admitted. On Monday, Japan’s Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency more than doubled its estimate for the amount of radiation that leaked from the plant in the first week of the disaster in March. The agency has also admitted for the first time that full nuclear meltdowns occurred at three of the plant’s reactors.
Google putting money in wind farms
The Alta Wind Energy Center (AWEC) in Mojave Desert will generate 1,550 megawatts (MW) of energy when complete. It will power 450,000 homes. Google is investing $55 million in the 102 MW Alta IV project. Citibank, which has underwritten the equity for Alta Projects II-V, is also investing in this project.