TOKYO (CNN) — The operator of Japan’s crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant has detected the highest radiation levels at the facility since initial earthquake and tsunami five months ago, a company spokesman said Tuesday.
The ultra-high levels of radiation were measured Monday afternoon on the grounds of the facility, near reactors 1 and 2, said spokesman Naoki Tsunoda. The lethal radiation was measured at the bottom of a ventilation tower.
The radiation levels — 10,000 microsieverts per hour — are high enough that a single dose would be fatal to humans within weeks.
The March 11 quake led to meltdowns at Fukushima Daiichi’s three operating reactors when the tsunami knocked out their coolant systems, causing the worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl.
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