nuclear-news

Unsafe for rescuers to retrieve irradiated bodies around Fukushima No 1 plant

The rescuers are now in a bind. Even if they retrieve the bodies, anyone who comes into contact with them risks being irradiated, too, whether they’re in the evacuation zone or not.

In Japan, a grisly consequence of radiation ajc.com  March 31, 2011, by JayBoy, hadn’t thought about this aspect of the tragedy in Japan … from the Japan Times: Radiation is preventing the retrieval of hundreds of bodies from inside the 20-km evacuation zone around the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, police sources said Thursday…….

The rescuers are now in a bind. Even if they retrieve the bodies, anyone who comes into contact with them risks being irradiated, too, whether they’re in the evacuation zone or not.

And if the bodies are cremated, the smoke could spread radioactive materials as well, the sources said. Even burial poses a problem. When the bodies decompose, they might contaminate the soil with radioactive materials.

Other news looks equally grim:

(The International Atomic Energy Agency) said Wednesday in Geneva it detected about 2 million becquerels of radioactive substances per sq. meter, or double the threshold at which the IAEA itself would order an evacuation, in soil samples from the village of Iitate about 40 km northwest of the nuclear power plant.

With the data, the IAEA effectively urged Japan to expand the current no-go zone of 20 km around the plant. Residents in areas 20 km to 30 km of the plant have been advised to stay indoors…..In Japan, a grisly consequence of radiation | Jay Bookman

April 1, 2011 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | - Fukushima 2011