#Radioactive "Ekiden" Road Race: High Radiation Detected in the Stadium, on the Course

Back in September, I wrote a post about the 27th East Japan Women's "Ekiden" Road Race to be held in Fukushima City, featuring underage girls as young as 13.

The race is on, this Sunday, November 13. Since I wrote the post, there has been a slow but now rapidly growing attempt from concerned citizens to stop the event. Short of stopping, at least they want emergency decontamination.

Why? Because the radiation levels in the stadium and on the roads to be used in the race in Fukushima City is very, very high, as they are being measured measured right now by a citizens group HCR+OPCOM.

From their tweets:

Inside the stadium, air radiation: 1.49 microsievert/hr

Inside the stadium, side of the track where runners are practicing: 1.71 microsievert/hr

Inside the stadium, side drain: 13.44 microsieverts/hr

10 meters from the stadium gate, on Ekiden course [on the ground]: 4.67 microsieverts/hr

Walkway along the course, on the ground: 11.80 microsieverts/hr ("Spectators beware!")

Air radiation level on the walkway along the course: over 1 microsievert/hr

1st relay point, on the ground: 13.14 microsieverts/hr

This is only for the 1st segment of the race course, and I assume they are only measuring gamma rays. Judging from the photos they post, they are measuring at the side of the road where the sediment and small debris tend to accumulate.

Still, now we know that the asphalt and concrete cannot be effectively "decontaminated" at this point, maybe there is not much difference.

Fukushima City is where Greenpeace found cobalt-60 in the soil in a park.

Willful ignorance of the coaches of these girls, particularly those school coaches who are also teachers, is staggering. They think it is totally safe, because "if it isn't, they wouldn't have planned it". That's similar to the Mayor of Yokohama, who said the food was safe "if it was sold in the market".

As related in one tweet, one of the coaches/teachers replied to the concern of a parent that there was this thing called "half life", and the radiation level in Fukushima City had already fallen to a safe level. Half life of cesium-137 is 30 years. I guess no one had told that teacher about it. When the parent told him about it and how high the radiation level in Fukushima City was, the coach got really concerned.

Every participating team has girls in high school and junior high school. I believe it is a requirement. It looks more than half of the members in any given are made up of girls under the age of 18. They are not even a voting age or drinking age (age of 20). One quarter of the team members cannot marry even with the consent of their parents (age of 16). But they can be exposed to high radiation.

Does that make sense? I thought intentionally endangering the minor is a crime.

Tweet