A nuclear specialist remarked that the discharge of radioactive water from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant could last until next century. "Those discharges could begin as early as [.]
You so much. back to our other top story which is the japanese prime minister today talking about the situation at the nuclear plant as being more serious than first thought, grave and serious is how he put it. i m joined by jeff merrifield former commissioner with the nuclear regulatory commission. thanks for having me. you ve toured the reactors at fukushima. yes. is there a possibility that there could be a breach in the reactor core, how serious could bit? what we found out yesterday was the workers were exposed to radiation containing beta particles, this is what causes skin lesions. that would indicate the water had been in contact with damaged fuel. there s a couple of different things that could be occurring here. one, as we all know they ve been washing water over the spent fuel pools over the course of the last days. it is possible that material particles from there.
Brooke we re on the top story of a seven-floor building in san francisco. the radiation detection unit here, this silver box, you can see what it looks like when it s open. some computer equipment. there s a bit of a filtration system that analyzes the air and is able to provide real-time data to the epa. joining us to talk about how this system works is eric stevenson with the bay area air quality management district. he manages this system for the epa. is this pretty simple equipment? explain, give us an overview of how it work. the operation is industry straightforward. a volume of air is passed across a filter. the material that s deposited is analyzed for radioactive material. beta particles, gamma-rays, that information is sent directly back to the national air and radiation environmental laboratory in montgomery, alabama, where it s monitored on a regular base.