Highest radiation levels for 12 months found at Fukushima

Fukushima records highest radiation level in a year http://www.straight.com/blogra/398066/fukushima-records-highest-radiation-level-year by CHARLIE SMITH on JUL 4, 2013 You might think that radiation levels would be falling more than two years after Japan’s most serious nuclear disaster since the bombing of Nagasaki in the Second World War.

But on a rooftop in Fukushima, radioactive cesium levels were at the highest levels observed in the past year, according to the Asahi Shumbun newspaper. The publication reported that University of Tokyo associate professor Ryoji Enomoto found moss with 1.7 million becquerels just over 50 kilometres from a crippled nuclear-power plant.

This was confirmed by a nonprofit group, the newspaper noted. According to an article by David Chandler of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a dose of 500 millisieverts can cause symptoms of radiation poisoning. It’s not easy converting becquerels, which measures radiation emitted, to millisieverts, which measure biological damage.

But you would likely want to move if levels of 1.7 million becquerels were ever detected in your neighbourhood.

Scientists detect highest cesium levels in a year in Fukushima http://ajw.asahi.com/article/0311disaster/fukushima/AJ201307040081 July 04, 2013 FUKUSHIMA–Radioactive cesium levels found in moss on a rooftop in downtown Fukushima exceeded 1.7 million becquerels, the highest levels detected in a year, researchers said.

Ryoji Enomoto, an associate professor at the University of Tokyo’s Institute for Cosmic Ray Research, who led the team, said radioactive cesium levels were unusually high in the samples collected.

The city is located more than 50 kilometers from the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant.

“Decontamination works encompassing broad areas are important, but it is also important to find spots where radiation levels are locally high by using simplified measurement tools and to decontaminate the spots,” Enomoto said. “It will help reassure people,” he said.

Enomoto measured radioactivity levels there on June 8. The researchers used a simplified gamma camera to detect the radiation.

A nonprofit group based in the city confirmed the original results; their tests detected 1.78 million becquerels of cesium.

Radiation levels of about 0.5 microsievert per hour were also measured a meter above the moss.

The Fukushima city government plans to decontaminate the building.

July 5, 2013 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Fukushima 2013

1 Comment »

why would it be so hard to convert becquerrels to millisieverts? It’s done all the time . Millisieverts do not measure biological damage,. They are the amount of radiation emitted over time that is needed to potentially cause a given amount of damage.

Comment by Stephen W. Anderle | August 4, 2013 | Reply

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