Schools in crisis-hit Minamisoma to limit outdoor activities to 2 hours

FUKUSHIMA (Kyodo) — The education board of Minamisoma, Fukushima Prefecture, has decided to limit outdoor activities to two hours a day for students at five schools to be reopened on Oct. 17 in areas between 20 and 30 kilometers from the crippled nuclear plant, local officials said Tuesday.

In a move that followed the government’s lifting of an evacuation advisory for the areas last month, students will also be urged to wear long-sleeved shirts and long pants as well as masks during physical education classes on the schools’ playgrounds to minimize exposure to radiation.

The five schools to be reopened have been decontaminated and the amount of radiation observed there is now about 0.1 microsievert on average per hour at one meter above ground.

The government is aiming to hold annual radiation exposure of children below 1.0 millisievert as soon as possible. In the case of Minamisoma, exposure from two hours of outdoor activities will amount to about 0.3 millisievert a year, the officials said.

Kyodo Press, October 5, 2011
http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/national/archive/news/2011/10/05/20111005p2g00m0dm013000c.html

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Expert hits ministry for lack of promptness in test: Report of long-range plutonium find tardy

The science ministry was tardy when it reported last week for the first time that traces of plutonium fallout were found outside the Fukushima No. 1 power plant’s compound through tests conducted in June, a nuclear expert said Monday.

The plutonium traces, which are too low to present a hazard to human health, were found at six spots far away from the plant’s premises.

A soil contamination map released Friday by the science ministry shows that plutonium drifted as far as 45 km northwest from the crippled plant to the village of Iitate, Fukushima Prefecture.

In late March, plutonium and strontium isotopes were reportedly found in soil at Fukushima No. 1 based on tests by Tokyo Electric Power Co.

It is not clear what caused the plutonium, a massively heavy element, to drift so far.

“The results came too late. The government should have conducted the tests much earlier,” said Michiaki Furukawa of the nonprofit Citizens’ Nuclear Information Center, a noted antinuclear group based in Tokyo.

The largest amount of plutonium-238 detected was 4 becquerels per square meter in the town of Namie, 24 km northwest of the plant. As for plutonium-239 and -240, the largest combined amount found was 15 becquerels per square meter, the ministry’s report said.

If someone lives for 50 years in an area contaminated with 4 becquerels of plutonium-238, his total dose would be 0.027 millisieverts, the report said. The area with 15 becquerels would provide a cumulative dose of 0.12 millisievert, it said.

A cumulative dose of 100 millisieverts increases one’s cancer risk by 0.5 percent, scientists say.

“Plutonium won’t do harm unless it gets into people’s bodies. And from the amount detected, (that) possibility is very low. People shouldn’t be concerned about it,” said Furukawa.

Plutonium-239 has a half-life of 24,000 years and plutonium-238 about 88 years. Plutonium-240 has a half-life of about 6,600 years.

Unlike cesium, which emits powerful gamma rays, plutonium emits alpha rays, which can be stopped by skin or clothing but pose a greater risk to cellular material within the body.

Furukawa said when plutonium is inhaled it may stay in the lungs for a very long time. But because the amount found was very low, the chance of inhaling it is very small, he said.

As for strontium, the amount detected was, on average, less than 1 percent of the radioactive cesium, the ministry report said.

The largest strontium amount was 5,700 becquerels per sq. meter in the town of Futaba, about 3 km north of the power plant, Friday’s report said. Someone living in the area for 50 years would get a cumulative dose of 0.12 millisieverts, it said.

Strontium-90, which has a half-life of 29 years, is known to accumulate in the bones when ingested or inhaled. But the small amount of strontium-90 that was detected is also not worth worrying about, Furukawa said, emphasizing that the biggest risk is being posed by cesium isotopes.

The ministry said it has no plans to expand its checks beyond the survey’s current 100-km radius, which means that Tokyo – whose massive population could magnify the consequences of any results – will be excluded.

Although it would be better if the government conducted more soil tests outside that range, it would be very difficult because conducting an analysis of strontium and plutonium takes much longer than it does for cesium, Furukawa said.

By MIZUHO AOKI, Japan Times Staff writer, October 4, 2011
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20111004a3.html

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High dosage of cesium found in soil outside Fukushima no-go zone

TOKYO (Kyodo) — High levels of radioactive cesium were found in an independent study in a Fukushima city district, prompting a citizens group and others involved to urge the government on Wednesday to promptly designate the area as one of the contamination hot spots for possible evacuation and ensure proper decontamination.

Up to 307,000 becquerels of cesium per kilogram of soil was detected in the Sept. 14 survey, triple that of the benchmark above which the government requires tainted mud to be sealed by concrete. The contamination is believed to have been caused by radiation leaked by the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant crippled in the March 11 earthquake and tsunami disaster.

The readings are comparable to the high levels in special regulated zones where evacuation was required after the 1986 Chernobyl accident, said the citizens group, Citizens Against Fukushima Aging Nuclear Power Plants.

Kobe University professor Tomoya Yamauchi, who was in charge of the study that tested soil samples from five locations in and around the district, noted that decontamination conducted in some of the areas tested has not yet succeeded in reducing radiation back to the same levels prior to the March accident.

The Japanese government currently has designated two categories of evacuation zones — the 20-kilometer no-go zone around the Fukushima Daiichi plant, and hot spots outside the zone where radiation level is expected to top 20 millisieverts a year.

The city of Fukushima is about 60 km from the crippled plant.

Kyodo Press, October 5, 2011
http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/national/archive/news/2011/10/05/20111005p2g00m0dm121000c.html

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Panel to suggest provisionally hiking annual radiation exposure limit

A government panel reviewing radiation limits for the general public will propose that the government increase the current 1 millisievert annual exposure level to an interim limit between 1 and 20 millisieverts, panel sources said Wednesday.

A group under the panel, headed by Otsura Niwa, a professor emeritus at Kyoto University, plans to propose the government provisionally revise radiation limits for food products and soil, many of which were set hurriedly when the Fukushima nuclear crisis started.

However, the plan to raise the annual exposure limit for ordinary people could be criticized for endangering health, which would potentially affect the subsequent review process, observers said.

The group has apparently determined it is difficult at present to maintain the 1 millisievert limit and envisions setting a more realistic interim limit without specifying a numerical target, while keeping the 1 millisievert limit as a long-term goal, according to the sources.

Prior to the disaster at the Fukushima complex, there were few standards for radiation exposure or radioactive materials in the event of emergencies.

But after the start of the nuclear crisis in March, ministries and agencies rushed to set provisional limits for radiation exposure and radioactive materials.

Kyodo Press, October 6, 2011
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20111006a7.html

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Radioactive waste piles up at Fukushima nuclear plant as disposal method remains in limbo

Three months after the start of full-scale water circulation system operations at the crippled Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant, high-level radioactive waste has kept piling up amid no clear indications of its final disposal destination.

As of Sept. 27, plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) had accumulated about 4,700 drums of radioactive waste after three months of cesium decontamination operations initially using U.S. and French equipment which was later joined by Toshiba Corp.’s “Sally” system in August.

Since the start of October, TEPCO has conducted the plant’s water circulation operations using the Sally system alone while relegating its U.S. and French counterparts built by Kurion Inc. and Areva SA, respectively, to backups.

According to TEPCO, radioactive waste as of Sept. 27 included 210 Kurion-made vessels (a total of about 307 cubic meters) with each vessel measuring 0.9 meters in diameter and 2.3 meters in height and 581 cubic meters of sludge via the Areva unit.

The radioactive waste has been kept at a temporary storage site on the premises of the Fukushima plant, which was heavily damaged by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, and subsequent hydrogen explosions and meltdowns. But TEPCO has been unable to fully grasp the details such as the types and the concentration of nuclear materials.

Professor Akio Koyama at Kyoto University Research Reactor Institute says, “The density of high-level decontaminated water is believed to be a maximum 10 billion becquerels per liter, but if it is condensed to polluted sludge and zeolites, its density sometimes increases by 10,000 times. The density cannot be dealt with through conventional systems.”

Mainichi Shimbun , October 3, 2011
http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20111003p2a00m0na011000c.html

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Forest radiation levels measured in Fukushima

The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries has embarked on the mammoth task of measuring radiation levels of all forest areas in Fukushima Prefecture, sources said.

The area in question covers 970,000 hectares, or 70 percent of the prefecture’s land area.

Until now, the focus has been on specifying residential areas and roads to be decontaminated. Decontaminating forest areas will likely be far more difficult.

Radiation maps on soil contamination released and updated by the science ministry since early May were created on the basis of data collected by aerial surveys.

But the new measurements by the forestry ministry focus on identifying concentration levels of radioactive cesium in the soil and airborne radiation levels.

The investigation, which started in late September, covers 400 locations in the prefecture. Measurements are being taken for each 4-kilometer-square within an 80-kilometer radius of the stricken Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, and for each 10-kilometer-square beyond an 80-kilometer radius of the facility.

The airborne radiation levels are assessed 1 meter above the ground surface, while soil contamination levels are measured by collecting topsoil up to 5 centimeters deep.

The soil will be sent to the Kyushu Environmental Evaluation Association, a Fukuoka-based research foundation, for analysis.

The results will be released in map format by the end of February.

The central government, complying with basic guidelines for urgent decontamination established in late August, outlined steps to remove fallen leaves from within 20 meters of the edges of forests close to residential areas.

However, the government has not come up with any plans to decontaminate all forest areas in the prefecture.

One reason for this is that it would involve a huge amount of soil for disposal.

The forestry ministry will use data from the on-site investigation to determine areas in need of decontamination and set priorities on areas where work must be carried out.

BY HIROAKI KIMURA, Asahi Shimbun Staff Writer, October 4, 2011
http://www.asahi.com/english/TKY201110030295.html

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Data released about plutonium found in soil outside Fukushima plant

TOKYO (Kyodo) — Plutonium, a highly toxic radioactive substance, found in soil in places even several dozen kilometers away from the stricken Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant had a maximum concentration equivalent to 11 and 31 percent of the levels within the premises of the plant, plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. said.

On Friday the government released data showing varieties of plutonium were detected at six locations in Fukushima Prefecture as far as Iitate village around 45 kilometers northwest of the Fukushima complex.

The government data showed the maximum concentration of plutonium 239 and plutonium 240 combined was 15 becquerels per square meter measured in the city of Minamisoma.

TEPCO said this radioactivity level is equivalent to 0.23 becquerel per kilogram of soil — or about 31 percent of the maximum 0.75 becquerel detected within the plant’s premises.

Plutonium 239 requires 24,000 years for half of its substance properties to decay. The half-life of plutonium 240 is 6,600 years.

Plutonium 238, with a half-life of about 88 years, found in the town of Namie had a maximum concentration of 4 becquerels per square meter. This is equal to 0.062 becquerel per kilograms of soil, or about 11 percent of the 0.54 becquerel measured within the plant compound, according to TEPCO.

Kyodo Press, October 2, 2011
http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/national/news/20111002p2g00m0dm020000c.html

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Japan to check liquor products for radiation

TOKYO (Kyodo) — The National Tax Agency said Monday it will begin in
October to check wine, sake and other liquor products for radiation from
the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.

The radiation checks will cover some 1,000 distillers, wineries and
other liquor factories including all located within a 150-kilometer
radius from the plant and up to 40 percent of randomly selected
factories beyond it.

If radiation level above an allowable level for drinking water is found,
the tax agency will report it to relevant prefectural governments.

Kyodo Press, September 27, 2011
http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/national/archive/news/2011/09/27/20110927p2g00m0dm003000c.html

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Radiation decontamination, disposal work to cost over 1 trillion yen: ministry

The cost of decontamination work and the disposal of rubble tainted with radioactive materials from the Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant is expected to top 1 trillion yen, the Environment Ministry disclosed on Sept. 29.

Based on its projections, the ministry will seek 453.6 billion yen in related expenses in its fiscal 2012 budget request. The costs do not include the maintenance of interim storage facilities for contaminated soil and waste, or measures to treat areas with highly concentrated radiation, and officials say it is possible that in the future costs could run several trillion yen higher.

The Environment Ministry is including decontamination and disposal-related funding for other ministries in its requests. In the fiscal 2012 budget, the ministry will seek 374.4 billion yen for decontamination work, 77.2 billion yen for the disposal of contaminated waste, and 2 billion yen for research and examination of interim storage facilities.

Specific tasks during the cleanup will include management of contaminated soil, direct handling of decontamination work by the central government, regular monitoring of radiation levels after decontamination work is carried out, and support of local bodies’ decontamination activities. In considering interim storage facilities, the government will probe the geographic features of prospective sites and study the effects on the environment. It will also investigate technology and methods to decrease the amount of radiation-contaminated waste.

In addition to the request for the fiscal 2012 budget, the ministry plans to seek 245.9 billion yen in funding in the third supplementary budget for fiscal 2011.

Mainichi Shimbun , September 30, 2011
http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20110930p2a00m0na010000c.html

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Plutonium traces found in Iitate soil

Plutonium has been detected at six locations in Fukushima Prefecture, including Iitate village around 45 km northwest of the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant, which suffered three reactor meltdowns after the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, science ministry officials said.

It is the first time the government has confirmed the spread of plutonium outside Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s stricken plant. The plutonium turned up in soil samples.

The detected amounts of plutonium were small and posed no danger to health, the officials said.

Plutonium has an extremely long half-life and is associated with a high risk of cancer if it enters the human body via breathing or other means.

“Because the fuels (in the reactors) melted down, plutonium may have been emitted with steam or other small particles and sent airborne,” a Tepco official said. “(Judging by the amount of plutonium) it is believed to be from the accident.”

The science ministry has also looked into radioactive strontium and detected the isotope at several dozen observation sites out of 100 it inspected, including a location about 80 km from the Fukushima plant.

Kyodo Press, October 1, 2011
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20111001a3.html

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Radiation spread reaches Chiba, Saitama prefectures

Fairly high levels of accumulated radioactive cesium in Chiba and Saitama prefectures were shown in a new contamination map released by the science ministry on Sept. 29.

The two prefectures, neighboring the municipal areas of Tokyo, are located about 200 kilometers from the disabled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant. The measurements for Chiba and Saitama prefectures were taken from Sept. 8 to Sept. 12 using helicopters.

In Chiba Prefecture, the highest levels of cesium-137, between 30,000 and 60,000 becquerels per square meter, were detected in northern areas, such as Kashiwa, Matsudo, Abiko and Nagareyama. Cesium-137 has a half-life of 30 years.

In Saitama Prefecture, some mountainous areas of Chichibu, located 250 km from the plant, recorded 30,000 to 60,000 becquerels per square meter.

In the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear accident, areas with 37,000 becquerels or more of radioactivity per square meter were designated contaminated zones, while levels of 555,000 becquerels or more required forcible relocation.

In Chiba and Saitama prefectures, the highest radiation levels were 0.2 to 0.5 microsievert per hour. In most other areas, the radiation levels were 0.1 microsievert or less.

BY HISAE SATO, Asahi Shimbun Staff Writer, October 1, 2011
http://www.asahi.com/english/TKY201109300393.html

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Residents near Fukushima nuclear plant make own radiation map, clean contaminated areas

MINAMISOMA, Fukushima — Residents in this city, some areas of which fall within the 20-kilometer no-entry zone from the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant, have organized a council to measure radiation levels and remove radioactive material spread from the power plant.

The council has also published a radiation map that is twice as precise as the one released by the government, making it the most up-to-date and detailed radiation map available for the area.

In the beginning of July, residents from the Ota region in the Haramachi Ward in the city of Minamisoma, gathered to organize the ’Ota area reconstruction council,’ the activities of which involve measuring radiation levels within the area and decontaminating public roads.

“We can’t keep on relying only on the government,” Kisao Watanabe, 70, the chairman of the council, said. “We decided to do what we could by ourselves, hoping we can return to normal life as soon as possible.”

After inviting nuclear experts to teach them how to use radiation measuring devices — which they purchased with a 500,000-yen subsidy from the local government — the members spent two weeks from July 13 through July 30, dividing themselves into groups of two to three, to inspect various locations within the region. With the help of a GPS (global positioning system) and four measuring instruments, they inspected radiation levels at a total of 470 locations within the Ota district.

Based on the results of their findings, the council completed a map on Sept. 2, which displays radiation levels within the district, given for one centimeter and one meter aboveground for all 470 locations, one location for every 200 meters.

The map is the most up-to-date and detailed one currently available, as the one issued by the government — also in September — shows radiation levels in the areas around the Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant at one location for every 500 meters.

On Sept. 15 council members distributed the map to all 1,000 households in the area.

According to the council’s map, radiation levels in all inspected locations were measured at 0.25 to 4.62 microsieverts, but with the exception of mountains and forests in the western part of the prefecture, radiation was comparatively low.

Meanwhile, on Aug. 28, 90 council members decontaminated approximately 800 meters of sidewalks along the ward’s main public roads in another initiative to speed up the city’s recovery.

“It is very sad indeed,” Watanabe said, referring to the fact that after the Fukushima disaster many schools in the city have closed and a number of families with small children have left. “All we want is to return to a normal life. We understood well that the government never had a disaster-preservation plan, despite building 54 nuclear power plants across the country,” he added, vowing to continue the council’s initiatives.

Mainichi Shimbun , September 25, 2011
http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/national/archive/news/2011/09/25/20110925p2a00m0na004000c.html

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Contaminated soil from nuclear crisis may total 29 mil. cubic meters

TOKYO (Kyodo) — The Environment Ministry said Tuesday that the amount of radioactively contaminated soil to be removed in Fukushima and adjacent prefectures amid the country’s nuclear crisis could total 28.79 million cubic meters, an amount that could fill the Tokyo Dome baseball stadium 23 times.

The estimate assumes that decontamination is conducted mainly in areas where people could be exposed to radiation of 5 millisieverts or more per year, but a ministry official noted it is a “rough figure” that would be reviewed further.

As a vast facility would be required to store the contaminated materials
for the time being, talks between the government and local
municipalities on where to locate such a facility may not go smoothly.

Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda plans to build such a facility in Fukushima Prefecture.

The estimate was presented to a panel of experts who are discussing ways to clean the environment contaminated by the crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, which has been crippled since the March 11 magnitude 9.0 earthquake and ensuing tsunami.

Under the scenario that areas with radiation levels of more than 5 millisieverts are to be cleansed, the ministry said that 2,419 square kilometers would be subject to decontamination activities such as removing top soil and collecting fallen leaves.

The ministry used data from Fukushima, Miyagi, Yamagata, Tochigi and Ibaraki prefectures to come up with the estimate.

The ministry also presented other scenarios such as one assuming the decontamination of areas with radiation levels of more than 20 millisieverts per year, but the panel experts basically approved the ministry’s view that decontamination should be conducted widely in areas with lower radiation levels of more than 5 millisieverts, the ministry official said.

Meanwhile, a third-party investigation panel looking into the cause of the nuclear crisis held its third meeting in Tokyo on Tuesday, although members remain tight-lipped about the findings so far to ensure continuing cooperation from people who the panel has to hear from to confirm the facts.

The panel had conducted hearings with a total of 275 people spanning around 581 hours as of Monday.

Yotaro Hatamura, the head of the panel, told a press conference after the meeting that a midterm report is expected to be compiled on Dec. 26.

Kyodo Press, September 28, 2011
http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/national/archive/news/2011/09/28/20110928p2g00m0dm023000c.html

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Evacuation directive lifted near Fukushima no-entry zone

In the first major downgrading of safety measures around the crippled
Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant since the start of the crisis, the
central government on Sept. 30 lifted an emergency directive to
municipal governments near the exclusion zone.

The order to communities within a radius of 20 and 30 kilometers from
the crippled Fukushima plant called on children and pregnant women to
stay away and all others to prepare to evacuate in the event of an
emergency.

About 26,000 of the approximately 58,000 people living in the area,
which includes the municipalities of Hirono, Naraha, Kawauchi, Tamura
and Minami-Soma in Fukushima Prefecture, have moved out.

The central government decided to lift the directive because the cooling
of the reactors at the Fukushima plant is proceeding smoothly and
officials believe there is very little chance of major new leaks. A
20-km no-entry zone around the plant remains in place.

The lifting of the directive is significant for the rebuilding process
because children and senior citizens requiring special care will be
allowed to return. Educational institutions will reopen, and the
construction of temporary housing will begin.

There is still much to be done before evacuees can return, including
restoring social infrastructure, such as water supplies and electricity,
as well as removing radioactive contamination.

Kawauchi village officials expect the return of all residents to be
completed by next February or March, while Hirono town officials are
hoping to complete the return by the end of next year. Central
government officials admit that it will not be easy to return all
evacuees from the 20-30-km zone by the end of 2012.

Officials of Minami-Soma designated August and September for removing
radioactive materials from public facilities such as schools and parks.
Work is proceeding at five elementary and junior high schools, which are
planning to resume classes from Oct. 17.

But many areas have not yet completed plans for decontaminating homes
and business offices, and it is likely to take decades to rid forests of
radiation.

About 90 percent of the land within Kawauchi is forested and, while
village officials plan to start decontaminating the forests after
completing decontamination work at local government buildings and
schools, they say the task could take 20 years.

Government officials will also have to come up with measures to assist
farmers who have been seriously affected by the radioactive fallout and
help find jobs for the returning residents.

The central government decided to lift the directive, even though many
communities are still in the process of planning decontamination,
because of a perceived need to demonstrate that the Fukushima nuclear
accident is moving toward settlement. Some nations are still blocking
Japanese agricultural imports due to concerns about radiation.

Asahi Shimbun , October 2, 2011
http://www.asahi.com/english/TKY201110010238.html

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