nuclear-news

The News That Matters about the Nuclear Industry Fukushima Chernobyl Mayak Three Mile Island Atomic Testing Radiation Isotope

Tomioka a nuclear ghost town

Inside Japan’s nuclear ghost zone, By David ShukmanEnvironment & science correspondent, BBC News 13 sept 11, As David Shukman enters the exclusion zone, he finds cattle that have starved to death. Nothing stirs in the empty heart of Tomioka, a community of 16,000 now reduced to the eerie status of a ghost town after the nuclear disaster at Fukushima.

The shops of the main street are deserted, motorbikes and cars are abandoned, weeds push through gaps in the concrete.

Vending machines selling drinks and snacks – always popular in Japan – stand unlit and silent.

Tomioka lies just inside the 20km exclusion zone that was hurriedly enforced last March when a radioactive cloud escaped from the stricken power plant……

As we keep watch on the Geiger counter, the radiation level, as expected, is generally higher down on the ground, very occasionally peaking at around 30 microsieverts an hour…..

Of wider concern is the impact of contamination beyond the zone.

The main plume of radioactivity reached far further than the 20km border with fears for agriculture and human health, and scientists are now in a race to gather reliable data to help shape public policy……

Readings have confirmed contamination of the soil, often at high levels – which raises the question of how much radioactivity may pass into the plants growing on it……

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-14887765

September 14, 2011 - Posted by | environment, Japan

No comments yet.

Leave a comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

« Previous | Next »