nuclear-news

The search for bodies near Fukushima can at last begin

Falling radiation permits search for bodies near Fukushima, ABC Radio News,  January 24, 2012 Reporter Mark Willacy reports from Fukushima TONY EASTLEY: With radiation levels near the stricken Fukushima nuclear plant slowly falling Japanese police are only now carrying out detailed searches for bodies near the facility. About 200 people from communities around the plant remain missing after a tsunami slammed into that stretch of coastline in March last year.

Correspondent Mark Willacy went with Japanese police on a search of
the highly radioactive and now abandoned district adjacent to the
Fukushima plant.

MARK WILLACY: I’m standing just three kilometres up the coast from the
Fukushima nuclear plant. And in fact I can see the outline of the
stacks and the buildings of the plant down this rugged stretch of
coast.

I’m here today with a team of 16 police officers who are mounting what
is really the first serious search along this stretch of coastline
more than 10 months after the tsunami. And in particular they’re
looking for 200 local people who remain on the missing list……
MARK WILLACY: I’m now six kilometres north of the nuclear plant at the
town of Namie. And if I just walk up to this shop it’s been pretty
badly damaged by the earthquake. If I just go inside, it’s just been
abandoned. There are scrubbing brushes for sale, brooms, clothing,
socks for example.

Whoever owns it has just fled along with the 22,000 other residents of
this town because the problem for them was that after the meltdown
radiation spiked here at 330 microsieverts an hour. So authorities
estimate if the people had have stayed living here they’ve be exposed
to up to 200 times the radiation that’s deemed safe…..
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-01-24/falling-radiation-permits-search-for-bodies-near/3789714?section=world

January 25, 2012 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | general