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Tokyo residents fearful, as radiation ‘hot spots’ confirmed, far from Fukushima

Some city, ward, town and village governments in the Tokyo metropolitan area have started doing their own radiation checks. An increasing number of citizens also are apparently checking radiation levels themselves…..

Precise response needed to quell ‘hot spot’ concerns,The Yomiuri Shimbun,18 June 11 As the crisis at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant continues to unfold, high radiation readings have been confirmed in several isolated areas outside evacuation zones. Residents in these areas are feeling increasingly anxious about their radiation exposure.The government must quickly expand the scope of radiation measurements to grasp the actual condition on the ground and take steps to remedy the problem.”Hot spots” with high levels of radiation also were detected after the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear meltdown in the former Soviet Union. Some were several thousand kilometers from the Chernobyl plant.
These hot spots apparently form when leaked radioactive substances are blown by the wind and fall on a small patch on land. Wind direction, topography and rainfall are factors that can concentrate radiation in small areas.

Since the government started measuring radiation levels in areas far from the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant, hot spots have been detected one after another.

Massive amounts of radioactive particles have been emitted into the environment since the Fukushima crisis started. Like the Chernobyl accident, the Fukushima crisis has been rated Level 7–the worst rank–on an internationally accepted scale for measuring the severity of nuclear accidents.

Fears on rise in Tokyo area

It is not just residents in Fukushima and its neighboring prefectures who are concerned they may be living close to radiation hot spots. People in the Tokyo metropolitan area also are worried about the spread of radiation. Conducting extensive radiation checks and making their detailed data public would be one way to alleviate such anxiety.

Some city, ward, town and village governments in the Tokyo metropolitan area have started doing their own radiation checks. An increasing number of citizens also are apparently checking radiation levels themselves…..

Precise response needed to quell ‘hot spot’ concerns : Editorial : DAILY YOMIURI ONLINE (The Daily Yomiuri)

June 20, 2011 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | - Fukushima 2011