Radiation to restrict work on No. 1 (Fukushima - it's not over yet)

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20110509x2.html

The operator of the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant found the radiation level of the building housing the No. 1 reactor stood as high as 700 millisieverts per hour, the government's nuclear agency said Monday, citing the need for radiation shielding to proceed with work to bring an end to the nuclear crisis.

The radiation level, which was around 10 millisieverts per hour at its lowest, was measured as Tokyo Electric Power Co. workers and agency officials entered the No. 1 reactor building early Monday as part of preparations to start full-scale work to create a stable system to cool the damaged fuel inside.

"An area with a double-digit millisievert level, let alone three-digit figures, is quite tough as a working environment. So we have to do the work by using some shielding," Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency spokesman Hidehiko Nishiyama said.

Tepco officials said the high radiation level is so far unlikely to affect the utility's schedule to stabilize the plant's troubled reactors around October at the earliest, but it is uncertain whether things will go as planned because of the difficult working environment.

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20,000 years or so.