Study: Some Fukushima Residents Exposed To Alarming
Radiation Levels
Fukushima Power Plant
EMF Protection Devices
Magnetic Field Detector
September 08, 2011 | By AKIKO
OKAZAKI
Residents from a 30-kilometer radius of the stricken
Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant were exposed to up to 50
milisieverts of radiation for two months after the onset of
the crisis, according to researchers at Hirosaki University.
When including exposure after they were evacuated, some
are expected to have readings of 68 milisieverts a year, or
more than three times the figure set by the central
government when it ordered the evacuations.
The researchers estimated that radiation levels in the
area during the two months before the evacuations came to 50
millisieverts.
Had residents of the Akougi area of Namie in the
prefecture stayed, they would be exposed to radiation at a
level of 190 millisieverts a year, according to the team's
assessment.
A research paper on this investigation
was released in the science report of the British science
journal Nature, published Sept. 7. http://ajw.asahi.com/article/0311disaster/fukushima/AJ201109089672
The Akougi area, which lies just outside the 30-kilometer
radius of the plant, was designated a "planned evacuation
zone" in mid-April by the central government. All residents
were required to evacuate by the end of May.
The estimate assumes that residents from the area moved
to other towns in the prefecture two months after the March
11 onset of crisis at the Fukushima plant.
"Evacuation cut the radiation exposure to one-third,"
said Shinji Tokonami, a medical radiation expert who led the
Hirosaki University team. "The government made the right
decision from the perspective of avoiding exposure."
The research team measured airborne radiation at 1,623
locations--all of which were more than 20 kilometers
northwest of the plant--in mid-April. The Koakuto district
of the Akougi area had the highest level among residential
areas at 32 microsieverts per hour.
Taking the half-life periods of cesium-134 and cesium-137
into account, the accumulated external exposure in the area
was assessed at about 190 millisieverts a year, on the
assumption that residents spent eight hours outside each
day.
The team then estimated the exposure levels of people who
relocated to Fukushima, Koriyama and Nihonmatsu cities in
the prefecture at 57-68 millisieverts, 57-59 millisieverts
and 59-64 millisieverts, respectively. Some areas of
Fukushima city were measured at 3.2 microsieverts per hour.
According to radiation monitoring by the science
ministry, the Akougi area is among areas with the highest
radiation levels in the town of Namie. The upper limit of
radiation to which people can be safely exposed is 1
millisievert a year, with 50 millisieverts for male workers
handling radiation-related work. The planned evacuation zone
was set for areas with radiation levels exceeding 20
millisieverts a year.
When the crisis flared at the Fukushima plant, about 360
people lived in the Akougi area, including 20 residents in
the Koakuto district.
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