"Hot Spots" in Koriyama City's Public Schools Revealed, as High as 20 Microsieverts/hr in the Side Drain in One School

High-radiation "hot spots" including a side drain that measured over 20 microsieverts/hour had been found in public schools in Koriyama City, Fukushima Prefecture, but the information only came to light after citizens' groups in the city demanded the disclosure to the city's Board of Education.

From Kyodo News (5/6/2012):

郡山の学校に「ホットスポット」　情報公開で判明

"Hot spots" in schools in Koriyama City, revealed by information disclosure request

　福島県郡山市の市民団体「安全・安心・アクションｉｎ郡山」などは６日、郡山市教育委員会への情報開示請求などの結果、市内の少なくとも１４小学校と７中学校、５保育所で、年間被ばく線量で２０ミリシーベルトに相当する毎時３・８マイクロシーベルトを超える「ホットスポット」があったと発表した。

Citizen's groups in Koriyama City announced on May 6 that the request for information disclosure to the Koriyama City Board of Education revealed that at least 14 elementary schools and 7 junior high schools, and 5 nursery schools had "hot spots" where the radiation levels exceed 3.8 microsieverts/hour, equivalent of 20 millisieverts in annual cumulative radiation exposure.

　開示資料によると市教委が１月、市内の小中学校に対し、定期的に測定している校庭や教室を除く、側溝や生け垣、雨水の排水口など敷地内８カ所の空間放射線量の測定を依頼。４月の測定結果では、地上１センチの高さで、中学校では側溝で毎時２０・４マイクロシーベルトなどを計測した。

According to the information disclosed, the Board of Education had asked the elementary schools and junior high schools in the city in January to measure the air radiation levels in 8 locations [at each school] including side drains, hedges, and drainage outlets. The measurement was in addition to the regular measurement of radiation levels in the school yards and classrooms. In the April measurement, one junior high school had a spot in the side drain at 20.4 microsieverts/hour at 1 centimeter off the surface.

Toyo Keizai, weekly economic magazine, had an article (5/2/2012) about the same topic - high radiation levels in schools in Koriyama. Even though the schools are supposed to have been "decontaminated", the reality is that all that's been done was to replace soil in the school yard, according to Toyo Keizai. Nothing has been done to the locations that tend to concentrate radioactive materials such as drains and water spouts.

Koriyama City finally decided to "decontaminate" those "hot spots" after the Golden Week holidays, but the decontamination work won't be finished before the annual spring athletic meets that these schools plan to conduct, just like last year and the year before.

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(UPDATED) New Twist on 4.7 Microsieverts/Hr Radiation in Setagaya-ku, Tokyo: Radium??

(UPDATE: They say it was most likely radium-226, the surface radiation was 600 microsieverts/hour.)

From Tokyo Shinbun quoting Kyodo News (10/14/2011):

東京都世田谷区弦巻の区道で局地的に高い放射線量が検出された問題で、保坂展人区長は１３日夜、区役所で記者会見し、区道沿いの住宅の床下にあった瓶の付近から毎時３０マイクロシーベルト以上の高い線量が検出されたと発表した。

Regarding the localized hot spot location on the municipal road in Tsurumaki, Setagaya-ku in Tokyo, the Mayor of Setagaya-ku, Nobuhito Hosaka, held a press conference on October 13 evening that over 30 microsieverts/hour radiation was detected from the bottles found from under the floor of the house that borders the road.

　区から通報を受けた文部科学省は瓶の中の物質を調査し、ラジウムとほぼ特定。原発から放出される放射性セシウムなどとは異なるため、同省は東京電力福島第１原発事故とは関係ないと断定した。

The Ministry of Education and Science analyzed the content of the bottles, and almost identified it as radium. Since it was not one of the nuclides released from a nuclear reactor such as radioactive cesium, the Ministry concluded that it had nothing to do with the Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant accident.

　区や文科省によると、瓶はガラス製とみられ、高さ約７センチ、直径５～６センチ程度のものなど数十本が木箱に入っており、中身は粉状。

According to Setagaya-ku and the Ministry of Education and Science, the bottles look to be made of glass, about 7 centimeters long and 5 to 6 centimeters in diameter. There are several tens of bottles in a wooden box. The content of the bottles are powdery.

The radiation was so high that the survey meter that they brought couldn't measure as it went overscale. No one is currently living in that house.

Whether people believe the government is another matter. Some simply do not. I am rather shocked to see the Ministry of Education, of all people, responding so quickly, even releasing the photo above so quickly. That ministry is the last one I'd expect to respond to ordinary people's concern. How ironic.

(Oh wait... The radiation near the surface of the side walk (5 centimeters off) was rather high at 1.34 microsievert/hour, according to Mainichi Shinbun (10/13/2011). Radium in the bottle under the house cannot explain that, can it??)

In the meantime, more radiation "hot spots" (often several microsieverts/hour) have been discovered in the Tokyo metropolitan area. More later.

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#Radiation in Fukushima City Order of Magnitude Higher Than Official Numbers?

From someone in Japan posting a short post at this website of a TV program he just saw on July 24 morning (their time):

たった今の、TBSテレビ、サンデーモーニングのニュースで同志社大、京都精華大調査
福島市内小U字溝56.9、福島県庁20.8、福島駅2.4～22.4μS
ほっとスッポトだらけ。調査した同志社大のセンセイもびっくりしていました。
福島市民はこの事実を知っているのか？

On TBS Television "Sunday Morning News". Radiation survey by Doshisha University and Kyoto Seika University of Fukushima City [in Fukushima Prefecture].

U-drain at an elementary school 56.9 microsieverts/hour; Fukushima Prefectural Government building 20.8 microsieverts/hour, Fukushima Railroad Station 2.4 to 22.4 microsieverts/hour. "Hot spot" everywhere. The Doshisha researcher was surprised to see these numbers. Do Fukushima City residents know about this?

I couldn't find the official radiation number for the Fukushima Prefectural Government building. The radiation at the Fukushima City Hall, about 1 kilometer away, is 0.95 microsievert/hour as of July 23, according to Fukushima Prefecture.

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