
CHAPTER 5
Radiation Releases
5.1 General
In the fi rst hours of the March 11th accident, workers rushed to fl ood
three damaged reactors with seawater to prevent a catastrophic
meltdown (Brumfi el and Cyranoski 2011). Three months later, water
was still being pumped into the cores and has since become the biggest
obstacle to cleaning up the site. Residual nuclear decay in the three
reactors—which all suffered total meltdowns—means that they will
need cooling for many months. TEPCO switched to using fresh water
two weeks after the accident as the salt water corroded the stainless
steel reactor vessels. Eventually, TEPCO dumped more than 10,000 tons ...