#Radioactive Used Car: 20.38 Microsieverts/Hr Car Destined for Kenya Stopped

at a car exporter in Kawasaki City, in Kanagawa Prefecture.

At least, used cars for export get tested for radiation. And those cars rejected for export for high radiation? Where will they go? (Anecdotal evidence suggests they are simply sold inside Japan.)

From Sankei Shinbun (10/17/2011):

川崎市は１７日、同市川崎区東扇島の中古車輸出会社に運び込まれた乗用車１台から毎時２０・３８マイクロシーベルトの放射線量を検出したと発表した。市は「人体に直ちに影響がある数値ではない」としている。

Kawasaki City announced on October 17 that a used car brought in to a used car exporter in Higashi Ogijima in Kawasaki-ku, Kawasaki City tested 20.38 microsieverts/hr radiation. According to the city, "That level of radiation does not have immediate effect on human body."

　市によると、検出された車は千葉県のオークション会場で競り落とされ、輸出手続きのため川崎市の会社に運び込まれた。以前は福島県のいわきナンバーだったという。ケニアに輸出される予定だったが、競り落とした業者に引き取られた。

According to the city, the car was auctioned off in Chiba, and brought to the exporter in Kawasaki City for export. The license plate number was previously that of Iwaki City in Fukushima Prefecture. The car was destined for Kenya, but instead the dealer who had won the car in the auction took it back.

　川崎港に運び込まれる中古車について、市は毎時５マイクロシーベルトを超えた場合に通報するよう事業者に求めている。

The city requires the dealers to report if any used car brought to the port of Kawasaki [for export] exceeds 5 microsieverts/hour radiation.

Let's see. 20 microsieverts/hour, and if you are on the road 2 hours a day for one year you would get 14.6 millisieverts external radiation from the car alone. Since it is less than 20 millisieverts, that's nothing in the current Japan.

The residents who lived within the 20-kilometer radius from Fukushima I Nuke Plant have been returning to their homes to retrieve cars and other items from their homes. Movement of cars in and out of Fukushima Prefecture is not restricted, except for the 20-kilometer radius residents whose cars need to be checked for radiation at J-Village. Many cars out of Fukushima, even those within the 20-kilometer radius area, have been transported by land to various locations in Japan. Only when the cars are sold to the exporters, then they are tested for radiation.

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