24.14 milli-sieverts, to be exact, in 40 days. But no one bats an eye over the number any more. Japan is busy doing the "Golden Week holidays".
There are still people remaining in Namie-machi.
Yomiuri Shinbun (5/2/2011) reports:
文部科学省は２日、東京電力福島第一原発から２９～３３キロ離れた６地点の積算放射線量を発表した。
On May 2, Ministry of Education and Science announced the cumulative radiation levels at 6 locations 29 to 33 kilometers from TEPCO's Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant.
同原発から北西に３１キロ離れた地点（福島県浪江町赤宇木）で３月２３日から５月１日までの積算放射線量は２万４１４０マイクロ・シーベルト（２４・１４ミリ・シーベルト）となった。
The cumulative radiation level from March 23 to May 1 in Akogi in Namie-machi, Fukushima Prefecture, 31 kilometers northwest of the plant, was 24,140 micro-sieverts, or 24.14 milli-sieverts.
Note the number is not counting the radiation from March 11 to March 22, when the release of radioactive materials from the reactors was the worst. The government DOES HAVE THE DATA that could be used to estimate the radiation levels in many places in Japan during that initial period.
Checking back at the past data disclosed by Ministry of Education, the radiation level in Akogi in Namie-machi (survey area No.32):
(5/2/2011: 24.14 milli-sieverts (3/23 - 5/1); +2.99 milli-sieverts from previous week)
4/25/2011: 21.15 milli-sieverts (3/23 - 4/24; +3.17 milli-sieverts from previous week)
4/18/2011: 17.98 milli-sieverts (3/23 - 4/17; +3.5 milli-sieverts from previous week)
4/11/2011: 14.48 milli-sieverts (3/23 - 4/10; +4.14 milli-sieverts from previoius week)
4/4/2011: 10.34 milli-sieverts (3/23 - 4/3; +5.527 milli-sieverts from previous week)
3/28/2011: 4.813 milli-sieverts (3/23 - 3/27; +3.276 milli-sieverts in 3 days)
3/25/2011: 1.537 milli-sieverts (3/23 - 3/24)
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7 comments:
Robbie001 sez:
This article claims that soil at some schools is as hot as 38mSv/hr! Parents are threatening to dump the contaminated dirt at TEPCO's office. It is good to see the parents aren't fooled or happy.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/may/02/parents-revolt-radiation-levels
Robbie001 sez:
"SENDAI -- Nearly 80 percent of 125 municipal elementary schools here have changed the destinations of school field trips from Aizuwakamatsu, Fukushima Prefecture to other locations following the crisis at a nuclear power plant in the prefecture, officials said.
The move was made in response to concerns voiced by many parents that their children could be exposed to radiation from the crippled Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant".
http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20110503p2a00m0na010000c.html
Looking for more information on that story in the Guardian. I can find no Japanese source that talks about 38 millisievert dirt, and I suspect it is an error. There are no such stories circulating in Japan. If the dirt were 38 millisieverts, it would have been an immediate health problem for the people who collected it an brought it from Fukushima to Tokyo. They would have received a very big dose of radiation in the 2+ hours it takes to reach their destination. The limit set by the government is a cumulative dose of 20 millisieverts per year, so if there is any school with 38 millisievert/hour radiation, it would surely be top news. It would mean a dose of roughly 36 sieverts since mid-March. Always a good idea to not take government announcements at face value, but its also good to remember that not all journalists get it right all the time.
S. in Osaka
@S. in Osaka, I've found the video of the event. It was 38 microsieverts. 9 minutes 50 seconds into the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2TS9yrUtwRQ&feature=player_embedded
That's still extremely, ridiculously high number.
I'll contact Guardian.
Robbie001 sez:
@ S in Osaka
"I can find no Japanese source that talks about 38 millisievert dirt"
I'm not surprised. Japanese sources are being forbidden from talking honestly to the public. Remember Greenpeace found soil radiation levels that were pretty high and nobody believed them until the IAEA confirmed them.
"The government has been publishing raw data from its own field monitoring, however, its assessment is currently far from comprehensive (4). Further radiation measurements made by the team in several parts of Minamisoma city show levels up to 4.5 microSievert per hour, which contrasts with the only official monitoring point in Minamisoma City which shows the relatively low levels of 0.7 microSievert per hour.
Further measurements in the region, such as in a rural area near the village of Tsushima (6), 30km from the Fukushima/Daiichi nuclear plant, and just outside the 30km voluntary evacuation zone, also found contamination levels of up to 47 microsieverts per hour (7), compared to the 32.7 reported by the authorities (8). Exposure at this level means the maximum allowable dose for a year being achieved in under 24 hours.
http://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/press/releases/Greenpeace-expands-Fukushima-radiation-team/Greenpeace-finds-high-contamination-levels-in-Minamisoma/
My point was that the Guardian reporter was mistaken. There is no 38 millisievert dirt. According to laprimavera, the actual reading is 38 microsieverts. Its a big error for a firm such as the Guardian.
S. in Osaka
@robbie, I wouldn't be surprised that the Japanese government suppresses info (I would be surprised if they didn't, at this point), but in this case it was not the government who announced the radiation of the dirt - it was a concerned citizens' group. Of course this news was nowhere in the Japanese MSM. And it is a misreporting by the Guardian reporter.
@S.in Osaka, the Guardian hasn't corrected this ridiculous mistake. No email from them. If NHK World is any indication, they won't bother to correct, even if it is a big mistake on their part. NHK World reported "highly radioactive debris was found on a nearby mountainside", which their translator and editor mistranslated from the original Japanese that said "....debris was found on the side of the reactor building facing the mountain (i.e. west)". So by now, many English speaking people in the whole world think there is a 300 milli-sievert/hr debris thrown all the way to the mountain west of the plant buildings and landed on the mountainside. After 2 weeks or so, no word from them.
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