[link to www.japantimes.co.jp]


Tokyo Electric Power Co. said Wednesday that radiation levels exceeding 10 sieverts have been detected in the flooded basement of reactor 1 at the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant, a development that will hamper its decommissioning.

Radiation from the basement water was found to be as high as 10,300 millisieverts an hour, a deadly intensity that will deliver the maximum annual dose in only 20 seconds and sicken anyone who is exposed within minutes.