214,200 Bq/Kg of Radioactive Cesium from Crushed Stones from Namie-machi, Fukushima

Remember the radioactive apartment complex in Nihonmatsu City, Fukushima, where the concrete foundation contained the supposed "radioactive" crushed stone from the stone pit in Namie-machi, bordering the "no-entry" zone?

Fukushima Prefecture finally released the data on the radioactivity of the stones, and it was indeed high. The survey by the Fukushima prefectural government and the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry is still ongoing, in an effort to identify the elevated radiation levels coming off the concrete that used these crushed stones. Good luck.

Jiji Tsushin (2/15/2012) reports:

...県は、１月２０日に実施した砕石場の現地調査の結果も公表。屋根のない保管場所では生コン用砕石から１キロ当たり最大１２万２００ベクレル、路盤材用砕石からは同２１万４２００ベクレルの放射性セシウムが検出されたという。

...Fukushima Prefecture also announced the result of the survey at the stone pit [in Namie-machi] conducted on January 20. The crushed stones for concrete stored in the open without a roof were found with the maximum 120,200 becquerels/kg of radioactive cesium, while the crushed stones used as subbase course materials were found with 214,200 becquerels/kg.

(At least) 7 tonnes of stones (for building exterior) from Fukushima Prefecture were sold in Tokyo last year, as I reported in my post on January 22, 2012. I haven't heard news of whatever happened to them.

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7 Tonnes of Stones from Fukushima Sold in Tokyo Last Year

No surprise here, as anything grown or harvested in Fukushima have been freely shipped and sold as long as it is not caught with radiation exceeding the very lax provisional safety limits. And for the construction materials that have been stored outdoors in Fukushima after the March 11 nuke accident, there is no safety standard, provisional or not.

Elite bureaucrats at the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (in this case of construction materials) didn't connect the dots either out of ignorance or out of kindness to assist the producers at the expense of consumers. The producers and distributors didn't connect the dots either out of ignorance or due to suspension of their own judgment. "If the regulating ministry does not say anything, why should we bother raising the issue? Just sell."

Plausible deniability of responsibility. Still, too many Japanese look to the government officials and experts for "guidance" despite all that has happened since March 11, 2012.

From Tokyo Shinbun (1/21/2012):

福島の切り石　加工し出荷　県内業者、都内へ７トン　県調査で判明

7 tonnes of hewn stones from Fukushima, processed and shipped to Tokyo by a Fukushima producer, according to the Fukushima prefectural government investigation

福島県二本松市のマンション室内で、屋外より高い放射線量が測定された問題で、県は二十日、福島第一原発事故後に福島県で産出された切り石を、栃木県内の業者が取り扱っていたと発表した。県によると、塀などの外構え用で、コンクリートを作るのに使う石ではないという。

After the discovery of high radiation at an apartment in Nihonmatsu City in Fukushima where the radiation indoors was higher than outdoors, the Fukushima prefectural government announced on January 20 that the stones hewn after the Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant Accident had been sold to a dealer in Tochigi Prefecture. According to the Fukushima prefectural government, these stones are for the exterior uses like fences, and not for the use in concrete.

　県工業振興課によると、この業者は福島県白河市の業者から切り石九トンを購入。うち七トンを加工して東京都内へ出荷、残り二トンは保管している。出荷品の放射線量測定はしていないという。

According to the Fukushima prefectural government, the dealer [in Tochigi] purchased 9 tonnes of hewn stones from a producer in Shirakawa City [another high radiation city in the center 1/3 of Fukushima] in Fukushima Prefecture, processed 7 tonnes and sold them to buyers in Tokyo. The remaining 2 tonnes are kept at the dealer. No radiation survey was conducted on the stones that had shipped.

　県が十六日から十九日にかけ、砂利や砕石などを採取する県内の全七十六業者を調査して分かった。

This was revealed in the course of the survey done by the prefecture from January 16 to 19 of 76 producers of gravels and stones within Fukushima.

　原発事故後、出荷品の放射線量を測定しているのは十九業者、未実施が五十五業者で、二業者は未出荷。保管方法は、屋外に野積みが六十四業者、野積みと屋内の両方が八業者、残る四業者は保管なしだった。

After the nuclear accident, 19 producers have been measuring the radiation of the products that they ship. 55 producers haven't done any such test. 2 producers haven't shipped any. 64 producers store their products outdoors, 8 producers store outdoors and indoors, and the remaining 4 producers do not store [???].

　県は、業者らに信頼確保のため、砕石などの放射線量測定を徹底するよう文書で通知した。

The Fukushima prefectural government has sent a written notice to the producers to do the radiation testing on the stones in order to secure the trust.

Now there's some peculiar notice that I saw through Twitter links the other day. A new condominium in Ota-ku, Tokyo recently canceled the sale of the units, without giving any reason whatsoever. Nothing to do with the stones used in the exterior, doesn't it? (I'm trying to find a link again through mountains of tweets...)

By the way, they've now found at least 60 single-family and multi-family residences (link in Japanese) built in Fukushima Prefecture last year using the supposedly radioactive crushed stone from the stone pit in Namie-machi. The Fukushima prefectural government is loudly blaming the national government for not having come up with a safety standard for crushed stones in Fukushima, and the producers and distributors are blaming both the prefecture and the national government for leaving them without any guidance.

Everyone plays "victim".

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