Japan/TEPCO updates: Hot links

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/05/30/us-japan-nuclear-workers-idUSTRE74T0WA20110530>Two Fukushima workers may have exceeded radiation limit 30 May 2011 Two workers at Japan's crippled nuclear power plant may have exceeded the government's radiation exposure limit, the plant operator said. Measurements of external exposure and radioactive iodine in their thyroid glands suggested that the two male workers, one in his 30s and the other in his 40s, had surpassed the maximum set by the government of 250 millisieverts over the life of the control and clean-up project. The government relaxed its upper limit for exposure for the Fukushima disaster, allowing 250 millisieverts for male emergency workers compared with the conventional maximum of 100 millisieverts for nuclear-related emergencies.

;http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-05-30/japan-risks-chernobyl-like-dead-zone-as-fukushima-soil-radiation-soars.html;Fukushima Debacle Risks Chernobyl 'Dead Zone' as Radiation in Soil Soars --Radiation from plant has spread over 600 square kilometers (230 square miles) 30 May 2011 Radioactive soil in pockets of areas near Japan's crippled nuclear plant have reached the same level as Chernobyl, where a "dead zone" remains 25 years after the reactor in the former Soviet Union exploded. Soil samples in areas outside the 20-kilometer (12 miles) exclusion zone around the Fukushima plant measured more than 1.48 million becquerels a square meter, the standard used for evacuating residents after the Chernobyl accident, Tomio Kawata, a fellow at the <http://www.numo.or.jp/en/>

Nuclear Waste Management Organization of Japan, said in a research report published May 24 and given to the government.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011/05/30/3230175.htm;Deluge could spread Fukushima radiation 30 May 2011 There are fears a tropical storm off the coast of Japan could wash radioactive material from the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant into the air and sea. Now downgraded to a tropical storm, former Typhoon Songda is still expected to bring strong winds and torrential rain to Tokyo later this morning, with the Fukushima area also forecast to experience a deluge. The plant's operator, Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), has apologised for not being prepared for the bad weather.

<http://www.marketwatch.com/story/tepco-cant-stabilize-reactors-by-year-end-report-2011-05-29>Tepco can't stabilize reactors by year-end: report 29 May 2011 Tokyo Electric Power Co. is coming to the view that it will be impossible to stabilize the crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant by the end of this year, possibly affecting the timing for the government to consider the return of evacuees to their homes near the plant, Kyodo News reported, citing senior company officials. The revelation that meltdowns had occurred at the Nos. 1 to 3 reactors at the plant, most likely with breaches to pressure vessels encasing nuclear fuel, has led the officials to believe that "there will be a major delay to work" to contain the situation, one of them said.

<http://www.midasletter.com/index.php/uranium-stocks-under-seige-as-fukushima-continues-spewing-radiation-11053001/>Uranium Stocks Under Siege as Fukushima Continues Spewing Radiation 30 May 2011 As shares in uranium exploration companies continued to shed value, Japan's nuclear nightmare is still getting worse. News this weekend that the hope of 'stabilizing' the leakage of radiation by steam into the atmosphere and by water into the ocean is unlikely underscores just how bad the situation is. Within a 20 kilometre radius around the stricken plant, a Chernobyl-style dead zone is developing, with levels of 1.48 million becquerels a square meter measured within that area. Dangerous levels of radiation have now been confirmed as far as 600 kilometres away from Fukushima.