Friday, September 23, 2011

105,600 Bq/Kg of Radioactive Cesium from Apartment Bldg Rooftop in Yokohama City

The apartment building is located in the same Kohoku-ku in Yokohama City where 63,000 becquerels/kg of radioactive cesium was found also from the rooftop of another apartment building, and 42,000 becquerels/kg was found from the dirt around the side drain on the road.

It looks like this person had the dirt on the rooftop tested on his own, and posted the test result sheet on his blog.

Cesium-134: 49,900 becquerels/kg
Cesium-137: 55,700 becquerels/kg
Total radioactive cesium: 105,600 becquerels/kg

Meanwhile, this is how the Yokohama City workers (or the contract workers) "cleaned" the highly contaminated (42,000 becquerels/kg cesium) dirt from the side of the road. No protection, no masks, no rubber boots.


Yokohama City Assembly recently voted down the citizens' petition asking the city not to accept radiation-contaminated disaster debris from Tohoku by the majority vote by the DPJ and LDP and Komei Party.

The city temporarily halted the dumping of radioactive sludge ashes into the ocean as the citizens' protests were fast and furious once they knew about the scheme, but the mayor in the press conference took pains to emphasize that only thing that had gone amiss was that the city officials under her clearly didn't "explain" well enough to the Yokohama residents living in the area around the final dumping site in Minami Honmoku Pier in advance. "We should have explained better to soothe the fear and anxiety of the residents", she said.

The mayor, who fed 80,000 elementary school children in the city with radioactive beef, then went to an APEC's women's meeting in San Francisco and appealed Yokohama. (As what?) And she wants her official residence renovated by city's taxpayers' money.

Something seems to me to be really out of whack in Yokohama City. I've heard Mayor Hayashi speak in the press conference. She speaks well, very dry, businesslike. Maybe that's all she does well - to speak well. Understanding what the issues are or what's at stake is for someone else to do for her.

11 comments:

shusse said...

Decontamination with a broom. I love it.

I also love how the contamination became referred to as "hotspots", then "micro hotspots" and now just "microspots". Smooth.

Anonymous said...

We know the 42,000 was found in ookurayama.

Where was the 65,000 found in kohoku-ku?

It's not exactly a small area.

Anonymous said...

The world is waiting for arrests relating to massive poisoning.

Until arrests are made the whole world sees Japan run by genocidal maniacs and will act accordingly.

Anonymous said...

"The whole world sees Japan run by genocidal maniacs and will act accordingly".

I guess I'd have to say I don't really share that view. So, if its all the same to you, I'd like to self-select out of that group.

Anonymous said...

Via Fukushima Diary http://fukushima-diary.com/

Japan Atomic Energy Agency [JAEA] (Toukai Village, Ibaragi Prefecture)
compiled analyses showing that the amount of internal exposure to
radioactive cesium from particles that had landed on the ground once
and then been disturbed and re-floated was 10 times larger than that
of inhaling the airborne particles directly. [This study] will be
presented on September 22nd at the Japan Atomic Power Conference
that’s presently being held in Kitakyushuu City.

The JAEA Safety Research Center’s research fellow Kimura Masanori
(Radiological Protection) points out that “an emphasis needs to be
placed to prevent re-floating from the ground surface”.
Using the survey data of TEPCO and the Ministry of Education, Culture,
Sports, Science, and Technology collected in Minamisouma City,
Fukushima Prefecture, the amounts of internal exposure to Iodine-131,
Cesium-134 and Cesium-137 caused by airborne particles (March 20-May 19) and that of re-floated particles (April 3-June 4) were calculated.
The result showed that the direct inhalation of Cesium-134 and -137
was 0.0076-0.0099 milliSv, which when compared to the re-floated
particle inhalation of 0.077-0.09 milliSv, increased approximately 10
times. On the other hand, when Iodine-131, which has a shorter half
life, was compared, the direct inhalation was 0.071 milliSv and the re-
floated particle inhalation was 0.045 milliSv; no large difference was
observed.

The half life of Cesium-134 is about 2 years; Cesium-137, about 30
years. Ground surface particles’ disturbance is expected to continue a
long time. Kimura observes that “depending on the kind of radioactive
materials, exposure pathways differ drastically.”

source link: http://www.asahi.com/national/jiji/JJT201109200045.html

Anonymous said...

Just terrible

Len said...

I have been wondering whether or not clinics and hospitals keep records wrt radiation sickness , in particular wrt pediatrics . These measures must be reflected in measurable outcomes in birth defects and ongoing radiation sickness. OR are they cooking the books again ?

Anonymous said...

"out of whack", yes.

Like scenes out of Laurel & Hardy, Three Stooges slapstick, w/the Japanese performing their scenes or 'skits' as their entire day, not brief moments for the camera. And the rest of the world who know better than to treat radiation so flippantly, laughing at them.

Have at it, fellas, shows us how to 'handle' radioactivity.

Anonymous said...

Cesium decay releases beta particles (= electrons), so that would be 105,600 beta particles per second being emitted.

By my calculations, a rough estimate is 14 rem/hour dose to person standing over this stuff.

Found this page that I based calculation on: Radiation Safety Guide (http://web.princeton.edu/sites/ehs/radsafeguide/rsg_app_f.htm)

Anonymous said...

How did you get that? 55700 becquerels of cesium 137 is about .0015 of a millicurie.

49900 becquerels of cesium 134 is about .0013 of a millicurie.

They both release different amounts of energy upon disintegration. Combined they wouldn't release anything close to 1 rem.

Anonymous said...

Let's remember one of the features of life forms is controlling electron transport and beta radiation is basically electrons on the loose.

Internal beta is an undesirable thing. Ask life forms.

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