The Fukushima nuclear plant operator has detected an extremely high level of radiation inside its No. 2 reactor, based on an analysis carried out by a robot, a company spokesperson told EFE Friday.
This will hamper the process of dismantling its installations, according to Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO).
The operator estimates a radiation level of around 530 sieverts per hour inside the reactor's containment vessel and just beneath the vessel's core, a level that would be deadly to humans.
The power company made the estimate after analyzing images obtained by a robot, the first one sent inside the No. 2 reactor, the spokesperson said.
Since a dose of just one sievert per day can prove very harmful for human beings and can even lead to death, the estimated levels inside the reactors - capable of even damaging electronic devices - have made it impossible for human operators to access the reactor.
Reactors No. 1, 2 and 3 suffered partial meltdowns due to an earthquake and a tsunami that hit Japan in March 2011.
Determining the exact condition of the nuclear fuel rods in the reactors is key to understanding how they can be managed and dismantled.
TEPCO technicians believe there is enough melted fuel in reactor No. 2 to perforate the pressure vessel and accumulate at the bottom of the containment vessel.
It is suspected that the residues, a mixture of the melted fuel and broken pieces of the core protection system, could be the reason for the high radiation levels inside the containment vessel.
However, TEPCO said no new radioactive leakages from the reactor have been detected, nor did it confirm any fuel accumulation at the bottom of the containment vessel.
The new data comes a few days after TEPCO said that video captured by the robot showed a dark substance under a metallic platform at the bottom of the pressure vessel, which could have come from the nuclear fuel rods.
The company is planning to carry out more analysis and will soon send another robot to continue examining the reactor.
The high radiation levels pose new obstacles for the removal of these nuclear fuel rods, necessary for the process of dismantling the reactor, which is expected to take around 30 to 40 years as it is impossible for humans to enter inside the reactor.
The Fukushima incident is the worst nuclear accident since the Chernobyl disaster in 1986.
Source: EFE
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