WELCOME to Fukushima, where the radiation's so bad it can be fatal within 20 minutes. The tsunami may have happened some 33 months ago, but the fallout just keeps getting worse.
Japanese media is reporting that the intensity of radiation levels in the nuclear powerplant devastated by the earthquake - and subsequent tidal waves - of March 2011 is now at its highest levels ever.
Tens of thousands of people were evacuated from around the Fukushima Daiichi plant following the disaster which sent three of its six reactors critical.
The clean-up operation is expected to take decades but in the meantime:
❒ Radiation contamination of the harbour alongside the plant is steadily rising;
❒ Another earthquake could cause a disaster 10 times worse than that experienced in Chernobyl;
❒ Traces of radioactive caesium has been found in tuna migrating across the Pacific.
On Friday, Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) reportedly detected the deadly radiation in a duct linking one of the damaged reactor buildings to a 120m tall ventilation pipe.
The radioactivity has been measured at 25 Sieverts (Sv) per hour. A total dose of two Sv is regarded as severe radiation poisoning. Six Sv produces a 100 per cent mortality rate after 30 days of suffering.
Japanese broadcaster NHK reported the duct had been used to divert gas buildups after the disaster. TEPCO says it may still contain radioactive substances.
It's just the latest in a long string of radiation "hotspot" revelations that have been leaking out of the information-firewall thrown up around the shattered nuclear plant since the disaster.
The uranium cores of the reactors have been close to "meltdown", with some burning through their concrete containment walls.
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