nuclear-news

The fearful town of Minamisoma.

by far the biggest problem is the Fukushima reactors. I think the accident shows we have to stop building nuclear plants. The radiation doesn’t stop in Japan: it goes all around the world.”

A city left to fight for survival after the Fukushima nuclear disaster – The Irish Times , Apr 09, 2011“……A common plot sees a modern city reduced overnight to a ghostly husk as fears of nuclear contamination empty it of people. Businesses shut and food, water and petrol run out. Old people left behind begin to die. The city mayor makes a desperate televised appeal for help. Such is real life in Sakurai’s city of Minamisoma.

More than 71,000 people lived here before March 11th. Today there are fewer than 10,000. About 1,470 are dead or missing, the remainder are scattered throughout Japan in more than 300 different locations, “as far as we can tell”, says Sakurai, who took over as mayor in January.

Dangling from his neck are two radiation counters, a reminder that the nightmare that descended on his city last month has yet to end……

“The radiation here is low,” he says, showing one of his counters, which reads 0.9 microsieverts. The second shows he has accumulated 16 microsieverts in four days. At its worst, he says, it was about 10 microsieverts an hour. The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission estimates the average American is exposed to 6,200 microsieverts annually.

“It’s worse outside the 30km zone. Radiation doesn’t travel in neat circles.” He says he has never despaired. “On the surface, we’re starting to move forward and radiation is falling slowly but by far the biggest problem is the Fukushima reactors. I think the accident shows we have to stop building nuclear plants. The radiation doesn’t stop in Japan: it goes all around the world.”

A city left to fight for survival after the Fukushima nuclear disaster – The Irish Times – Sat, Apr 09, 2011

April 9, 2011 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | - Fukushima 2011