nuclear-news

Five months after a nuclear accident blew radioactive particles across the countryside, contamination in Date (pronounced DAH-tay) is deemed low enough to be manageable—as long as residents don’t spend too long outside, and avoid spots such as parks and forests, where radioactive elements tend to gather. Radioactive cesium has a tendency to bind to earth, and flow along with silt in water.

The government is urging Date’s citizens to decontaminate their houses and fields. Instead of the wholesale evacuation urged on towns with higher radiation levels, Date is suggesting families leave only when their homes are deemed mini “hot spots”—where radiation levels are so high they could be worrisome.

The new hot spots are devilishly small and scattered: one out of five houses in the neighborhood of Kaki-no-uchi; six households of 10 in Aiyoshi. In some cases, next-door neighbors have received differing recommendations….

Most of Date’s hot spots are clustered in the district of Oguni, a verdant, hilly area full of farms and forests. On June 11 and 12, inspectors hired by the government fanned out across the area, carrying portable radiation meters with silver probes to survey 485 houses. They were looking for amounts of radiation that could put residents at risk of accumulating more than 20 millisieverts of exposure a year, a level that worked out to about 3.2 microsieverts per hour.

At each house the inspectors measured two spots—in the yard and at the front door—at heights of about 20 inches and one yard (one meter). In choosing the spots, the inspectors were warned to stay away from areas such as drains, shrubbery and rainspouts, where radioactive elements tend to gather, potentially skewing results.

In early July, letters started arriving at the 113 houses deemed hot spots….

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111904279004576527470755113128.html