Beyond Nuclear on Thom Hartmann's "The Big Picture": "Fukushima Can Now Kill You Within 45 Minutes"
November 2, 2015 Thom Hartmann, host of "The Big Picture," interviewed Beyond Nuclear's Kevin Kamps regarding news that radiation dose rates of 940 Rem per hour have been detected in a room outside of Fukushima Daiichi Unit 2's containment structure.
As acknowledged by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC):
Lethal Dose
The dose of radiation expected to cause death to 50 percent of an exposed population within 30 days (LD 50/30). Typically, the LD 50/30 is in the range from 400 to 450 rem (4 to 5 sieverts) received over a very short period.
Thus, the 940 Rem (or 9.4 Sievert) radiation doses just documented at Fukushima Daiichi could deliver a lethal dose to person, lacking radiation shielding and at close range, in less than a half-hour.
It is for this reason that Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) must send remote controlled robotic probes into such high radiation fields, in order to take measurements, photos, videos, etc. The probes have often broken down under such intense radiation levels -- their electronic circuitry gets "fried" by the gamma rays.
Thom and Kevin discuss what this means for the decommissioning of Fukushima Daiichi, as well as the ongoing release of 300 to 400 (metric) tonnes (around 80,000 to more than 100,000 U.S. gallons) per day of radioactively contaminated groundwater into the Pacific Ocean, which can then bio-concentrate up the food chain to impact human health.