Yomiuri: "Relatively" High External Radiation Exposure for Children, Pregnant Women in Koriyama City, Fukushima

For the month of November 2011, one pre-schooler in Koriyama City in the high-radiation "Nakadori" region in Fukushima Prefecture was found with 0.66 millisievert of external radiation exposure. The maximum number for the pregnant women was 0.36 millisievert.

On an annualized basis, 7.92 millisieverts from external radiation alone for the particular child, and 4.32 millisieverts for the pregnant woman. The average for the children was 0.11 millisievert, which would be 1.32 millisievert in one year. The average for the pregnant women was 0.10 millisievert, which would be 1.20 millisievert in one year.

Just a friendly reminder: Before the Fukushima I Nuke Plant accident, the natural "external" radiation exposure average in Japan was 0.59 millisievert per year.

Another reminder: Koriyama City started fitting the children and pregnant women with glass badges starting November 2011. There is no way of knowing what the radiation exposure may have been in the earlier months.

Yomiuri Shinbun (1/6/2012):

福島県郡山市は６日、市内の未就学児と妊婦の昨年１１月の１か月間の個人積算線量の測定値で、未就学児１人から０・６６ミリ・シーベルト、年間換算では７・９２ミリ・シーベルトと比較的高い線量が測定されたと発表した。

Koriyama City in Fukushima Prefecture announced the result of cumulative radiation exposure in the month of November 2011 for the pre-school children and pregnant women in the city. One child was found with 0.66 millisievert of radiation exposure, which would be 7.92 millisieverts for the annual cumulative exposure, a relatively high figure.

　市では「今のところ健康に影響を与える数値ではないが、今後も調査を継続して対応していきたい」としている。

The city says "It is not the level that immediately affect health, but we want to continue to monitor."

　平均値は未就学児が０・１１ミリ・シーベルト、妊婦が０・１０ミリ・シーベルトで、妊婦の最高値は０・３６ミリ・シーベルトだった。

The average figure for the pre-schoolers was 0.11 millisievert, and for the pregnant women 0.10 millisievert. The maximum number for the pregnant women was 0.36 millisievert.


　市は昨年１０月末から、保育園や幼稚園、希望者を対象に約１万６４００個の線量計を配布。同１１月の積算の放射線量を測定してもらい、妊婦８９６人と未就学児１万５２３９人から回収した。

The city distributed 16,400 glass badges to children in the city's nursery schools and kindergartens and to people who wanted to be fitted with the badges. The cumulative radiation exposure for the month of November was recorded, and the city collected the badges back from 896 pregnant women and 15,239 pre-schoolers.

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Fall Semester in Fukushima Starts with Glass Badges for Children

that quietly monitor the radiation levels. Their teacher hopes the badges "will protect the children".

(Oh boy...)

From NHK News Japanese (9/1/2011):

福島市の小中学校で、１日、２学期の始業式が行われ、子どもたちに線量計が配られました。

The fall semester started on September 1 in elementary schools and junior high schools in Fukushima City, and children received their glass badges.

福島市の小中学校では、１日から２学期が始まり、福島第一小学校でも午前７時すぎから子どもたちが登校し始めました。福島市では、一部の地域で高い放射線量が計測され、学校の校庭や通学路で放射線量を下げる対策が進められていますが、１日はマスク姿の子どもが目立ち、正門前には子どもを送る保護者の車の列が出来ていました。

At Fukushima Daiichi Elementary School, children started arriving at 7AM. High radiation has been measured in certain areas in Fukushima City, and the measures to lower the radiation levels in the school yards and on the routes to schools [children usually walk to school] are being taken. But on the first day of the school, many children wore masks, and many parents drove their children to school to the front gate of the school.

始業式では、福井一明校長が「みんなが元気に登校して２学期がスタートでき、うれしく思います。楽しい学校生活を送って下さい」とあいさつしました。福島県では、２学期から１５歳未満の子ども２８万人に放射線の線量計が配られることになっていて、始業式のあと教室に戻った子どもたちは担任の教師から線量計を受け取り、登下校の際に首からかけることなど使い方の説明を受けていました。

During the start of the school ceremony, Principal Kazuaki Fukui greeted the children, saying "I am glad that you are all here in good health to start the fall semester. Enjoy your school life". In Fukushima Prefecture, 280,000 children younger than 15 years are to receive the glass badges to monitor radiation. After the ceremony, children received the badges from their classroom teachers, and were told to wear the badge from the neck on the way to and from school.

線量計を受け取った子どもたちは「これで少しは安心できます」とか「首にぶら下げると少し変な感じがします」などと話していました。６年生の担当の教師は「線量計を子どもたちに身に着けさせるのは心苦しい気もするが、安全を確保するためのお守りだと考えています。例年よりも日焼けした子どもたちの姿が少ないように感じたので、２学期はなるべく外で遊ばせたいと思います」と話していました。

On receiving the badges, children said "I feel a bit safer now", or "it feels funny when I wear it around my neck". A teacher in charge of 6th graders said, "I feel sorry that children have to wear the glass badges, but I consider the badges as amulets that protect children. It looks to me that there are fewer children with sun tan this year, so I would like to have them play outdoors as much as possible."

DON'T!!! In the accompanying video at the NHK page, the teacher says he hopes "it will be the normal fall semester, just like last year".

Higher education doesn't necessarily mean higher intelligence, that's for sure. (Probably inversely correlated, when I look at Japan.) And trading on hope is not a viable strategy either.

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#Radiation in Japan: "Experiment" Just Got Bigger, As Fukushima to Fit All Infants, Kindergarteners, School Children with Radiation Monitoring Badges

(CORRECTION: From NHK English it was not clear how young these children could be, but I checked the NHK Japanese, and found out that they will distribute these badges to 0-year-olds and older, all the way to junior high school students.)

There they go. Dr. Shunichi Yamashita must be thrilled for the prospect of a research of a lifetime!

Fukushima Prefecture decided to fit ALL kindergarteners, elementary school and junior high school children in Fukushima Prefecture, 280,000 of them, with what NHK World called "dosimeter" to monitor the radiation level as experienced by these small and young children.

From NHK World (English) (6/24/2011):

Fukushima Prefecture has decided to distribute dosimeters to about 280 thousand children to monitor their radiation exposure caused by the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.

Voices of parents expressing concern about their children's health have been growing louder.

The prefecture said on Thursday it will give dosimeters to children ranging from infants to junior high school students.

The prefecture will also subsidize cities and villages to replace top soil in the school yards or set up air conditioners in schools.

Some municipalities in the prefecture have already distributed, or decided to distribute, dosimeters to children to monitor radiation exposure.

The prefecture will provide financial help to those municipalities.

Voices of parents have been getting louder indeed, but they don't necessarily demanding for the radiation monitoring badges; they are demanding that their cities and towns do something to lower the radiation especially in the school environment and measure radiation in more detail so that their children can avoid "hot spots".

As I mentioned in my previous post, these are not "dosimeters" but "glass badges" that passively collect radiation information. It won't help these children or their parents to avoid high-radiation areas and spots, it won't tell them how much radiation they will have been exposed unless they are sent in to a company to interpret the data.

It costs about 3,000 yen a piece (US$37), so the total cost of the badges will be 840 million yen, or about US$10 million for the entire Fukushima Prefecture.

The company that manufactures these glass badges is Chiyoda Technol Corporation in Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo. Tokyo Brown Tabby, on reading my blogpost, called the company's Tokyo regional sales office. And here's what Tabby found:

• You can't tell the amount of radiation the wearer has been exposed just by looking at the badge;

• It is not designed to give alarm sound when the radiation is high;

• It will be collected after a certain period of time, and the data will be downloaded from the badge by Chiyoda Technol, and the company will report back to the municipalities.

(Image from Chiyoda Technol site)

Well, the national government and the Fukushima government willfully withheld information on radioactive materials being carried by the wind and dispersed in the wide areas in the first 2 weeks of the accident because they "feared panic". So what do they do now? Not much, other than issuing one "safety declaration" after another and glass badges to children. As long as people look to them for "guidance" and "direction", they are safe and secure in their positions.

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