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Radioactive Levels at Fukushima Jump 9000% in 3 Days.

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Some of the highest levels of ionizing radiation yet detected since the disaster first occurred were recently recorded at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power facility in Japan, according to shocking new reports. The Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), which runs the crippled nuclear plant, says levels of radioactive cesium in a water well were 9,000 percent higher on July 8, 2013, than they were three days earlier, and nobody knows why this is the case.

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The Asahi Shimbun reports that TEPCO observed the spike after testing water in a well on the seaward side of Fukushima’s No. 2 reactor. According to readings taken, radioactive cesium levels registered at an astounding 27,000 becquerels per liter (Bq/l), which is the highest ever since March 11, 2011, when the tsunami and earthquake first struck the plant. At this point, the cause of the spike is still unknown.

“It is unclear whether the radioactive water is leaking into the sea,” said a TEPCO official, following the discovery. “After gathering needed data, we will conduct analyses.”

As you may recall, radioactive water from the No. 2 well was found to have been leaking about a month after the disaster struck in April 2011. At that time, about 9,000 Bq/l of cesium-134 and 18,000 Bq/l of cesium-137 were detected in water samples. These amounts are 150 and 200 times higher, respectively, than the maximum level legally permitted.

At the same time, levels of other harmful forms of radiation, including strontium, have remained oddly consistent, which has many officials scratching their heads. According to the most recent data, radioactive strontium levels remained mostly steady around 890,000 Bq/l both before and after the cesium spike.

“We do not know why only cesium levels have risen,” added the TEPCO official.
Radioactive tritium levels are also spiking dramatically, say officials

Besides cesium, radioactive tritium has also been detected in significantly higher amounts near the No. 2 well. According to The Wall Street Journal (WSJ), tritium levels in groundwater near the reactor have jumped 17-fold since December, and are continuing to rise with each passing day. Since May, tritium levels have increased a staggering 20 percent.

“[T]he tritium level that TEPCO measured on July 5 in one of its coastal monitoring wells near reactor No. 2 is ten times above Japan’s safety standard of 60,000 becquerels per liter, and rising,” writes Phred Dvorak for the WSJ. “That’s the highest such level the company has recorded since the incident.”

What this all suggests, of course, is that the Fukushima disaster is far from over, and may only be in the early stages of unleashing massive environmental destruction. Despite the fact that more than two years have passed since the disaster’s onset, the situation appears to be intensifying with no end in sight, which could lead to much more serious problems in the future.

Meanwhile, as much as 93 billion becquerels of radioactive substances are believed to still be pouring into the Pacific Ocean every single day as a result of the Fukushima disaster. Reports from back in March indicate that, since the disaster, a total of 16.1 trillion becquerels of just cesium-137 are believed to have leaked into seawater.

“Once again, TEPCO release the bad news in a drip, drip, drip mode,” wrote one commenter on an ENENews.com report on the issue. “These destroyed nuclear reactors are going to pop and sputter for thousands of years to come. Changes in the configuration of residual melted fuel remaining in and around the plants will create ongoing criticalities, with changing cooling water and groundwater flows.”

Sources: Raw For Beauty

Meteor Shower and Eclipses of Sun to Grace May Sky.

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A meteor shower and a cosmic “ring of fire” will dominate the night sky this month

The annual Eta Aquarid meteor shower and an annular solar eclipse both occur at the beginning of May, while a less impressive lunar eclipse is set to take place at the end of the month, but that isn’t all. Constellations, planets and other celestial bodies can also be spotted in various parts of the sky throughout the month, weather permitting.

“As night falls, look for Jupiter shining in the west,” Nancy Calo from the Space Telescope Science Institute said during her narration of a video highlighting May stargazing. “The best views of Jupiter will come early in the month, when it is highest in the sky. In the closing days of May, Mercury and brilliant Venus will join Jupiter low in the west. A telescope will provide better views of the planets.” [See sky maps for May’s best stargazing events]

A telescope isn’t required to see the Eta Aquarid meteor shower this weekend, however. The shower is expected to peak after midnight on May 5, and viewers can expect to see about 10 meteors per hour coming from the eastern part of the sky, Calo said. The Eta Aquarids are one of two meteor showers created by dusty debris left over from the famed Halley’s Comet. The Orionid meteor shower in October is the other.

On May 10, a few days after the meteor shower’s peak, stargazers in certain parts of the world can see an annular solar eclipse that should make the sun look like a shining ring in the sky. Annular solar eclipses are also known as “ring of fire” eclipses because they occur when the moon does not completely block the sun, leaving a bright ring visible around the moon.

Weather permitting, some parts of the world will get a partial view of the eclipse — created when the moon passes between the sun and the Earth, obscuring the star — but Australia and the southern part of the Pacific Ocean will get the best showing. It will not be visible from North America.

A minor lunar eclipse will take place on May 24, but viewers might not be able to tell.

Although the eclipse will be visible to stargazers in South America, western Europe and western Africa, the full moon will only pass through the Earth’s penumbral shadow. This part of the planet’s shadow still receives some direct sunlight, making it difficult to see a difference between regular moonlight and the dimmer light of the eclipse.

May’s lunar eclipse will most likely be less impressive than the partial lunar eclipse in April. During that eclipse, the moon dipped into the umbra — the part of Earth’s shadow that doesn’t receive any direct sunlight — which obscured part of the rocky face of the satellite in darkness.

A smattering of deep sky objects will also be visible throughout the month.

Jupiter can be seen in the western part of the sky in early May and Saturn appears in the southeastern sky after sunset.

“Looking toward the south, we’ve turned away from the crowded center of our Milky Way Galaxy,” Calo said. “Thus we see farther into the universe.”

By using a pair of binoculars, stargazers can peer into the Virgo cluster of galaxies, spot the Whirlpool Galaxy and see the M64 spiral galaxy, Calo added.

Source: Scientific American