We reported in May 2011 that authorities knew – within days or weeks [3] – that all 3 active Fukushima nuclear reactors had melted down [4], but covered up that fact for months.
The next month, we reported that Fukushima’s reactors had actually suffered something much worse: nuclear melt-throughs [5], where the nuclear fuel melted through the containment vessels and into the ground. At the time, this was described [5] as:
The worst possibility in a nuclear accident.
But now, it turns out that some of the Fukushima reactors have suffered even a more extreme type of damage: melt-OUTS.
By way of background, we’ve noted periodically that scientists have no idea where the cores of the nuclear reactors are [6].
And that highly radioactive black “dirt” [7] has been found all over Japan.
It turns out that the highly radioactive black substances are likely remnants of the core.
The Journals Environmental Science & Technology [8] and Journal of Environmental Radioactivity [9] both found (hat tip EneNews [10]) that the highly radioactive black substances match fuel from the core of the Fukushima reactors [10].
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission agrees [11].
Indeed, “hot particles” with extremely high levels of radiation – 7 billion [12], 40 billion [13] , and even 40 billion billion [14] Bq/kg – have been found all over the Fukushima region [15], and hundreds of miles away … in Tokyo [16].
Let’s put this in perspective. The Atlantic notes [17]:
Japanese regulations required nuclear waste with 100 or more bq/kg of Cesium to be monitored and disposed of in specialized containers.
***
The new government limit for material headed for landfills is 8000 bq/kg, 80 times the pre-Fukushima limit.
So the hottest hot particle found so far is 5 million billion [18] times greater than the current government limits of what can be put in a landfill.
In other words, the core of at least one of the Fukushima reactors has finally been found … scattered all over Japan.
How did material from the cores get dispersed so far? Remember, there was a huge explosion at reactor number 1 [19] , and an even bigger explosion at reactor number 3 [20].