nuclear-news

United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation

The committee, known as UNSCEAR, will publish a report in May 2013 that aims to give an analysis of radiation dosages among citizens and forecast health risks in the coming decades

Children Wait for UN Radiation Study After Fukushima Crisis, Bloomberg   By Yuriy Humber and Tsuyoshi Inajima  March 05, 2012 As five-year-olds charge through the corridors of a kindergarten in northeast Japan at lunchtime, teacher Junko Kamada says she is still unsure if their food is safe a year after the Fukushima nuclear accident.

Since the March 11 earthquake and tsunami wrecked the Fukushima plant, about 100 kilometers (62 miles) south of the Sakuragi Hanazono kindergarten in Tagajo city, parents of the 198 children have been seeking assurances that the school lunches are free of radiation…..
wait at least another 14 months for a unified view on food contamination when the United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation issues the first global and independent assessment of the Fukushima nuclear accident. About 160,000 people, or
8 percent of the Fukushima prefecture residents, were evacuated due to
radiation risk that has left about 132 square kilometers as a no-go
zone.

The committee, known as UNSCEAR, will publish a report in May 2013
that aims to give an analysis of radiation dosages among citizens and
forecast health risks in the coming decades, Chairman Wolfgang Weiss
said by telephone from Vienna. It will give an estimate of the total
radiation release from the Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear station and
publish a study showing how children’s health is affected by
radiation, he said…..
The study is crucial because radiation estimates from the Japanese
government and plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. (9501) are as
much as 77 percent less than some estimates from overseas
organizations. The Japanese estimates have been revised twice as more
information became available…..
Chernobyl Experts
About 60 industry officials and scientists from 18 countries,
including those who investigated the 1986 Chernobyl accident, met for
the first time in October to start on the report, Weiss said. The
committee is working with five other UN agencies, including the World
Health Organization and the Food and Agriculture Organization, and
Japanese counterparts…..
The final report will be available to the public in October 2013 after
approval by the UN’s science committee, he said. UNSCEAR also
published reports after the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear plant accident in
the Soviet Union…….
Still, even with the international resources the task of gathering all
the data and making an accurate estimate of the total radiation
release may end up being “almost impossible” as investigators have yet
to check conditions inside Fukushima reactors, Homma said.

The hardest part may be calculating the radiation released into the
Pacific Ocean, where Fukushima Dai-Ichi faces, he said.

France’s Institute for Radiological Protection and Nuclear Safety said
in October that the accident led to the biggest discharge of
radioactive material into the ocean in history. The institute
estimates 27,000 terabecquerels of radioactive cesium 137 leaked into
the sea from the Fukushima plant……
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-03-05/children-of-fukushima-wait-for-un-radiation-study

March 7, 2012 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | health, Japan, Reference