#Radioactive Apartment in Nihonmatsu City, Fukushima, Measuring 1.2 Microsievert/Hr Inside

It looks the glass badge worn by a student who lives in the apartment helped identify the "hot" concrete.

A kind of perverse way to find out about radiation contamination...

From Fukushima TV News (1/15/2012):

二本松市のマンションのコンクリートから比較的高い放射線が確認され環境省ではコンクリートに放射性物質が混入したまま工事が行われたと見て調べています。

Relatively high levels of radiation have been detected from the concrete in an apartment building in Nihonmatsu City [in Fukushima Prefecture]. The Ministry of the Environment suspects that radioactive materials were in the concrete, and is investigating.

問題が発覚したのは二本松市で去年９月に建設されたマンションです。環境省などによりますと先月２７日、マンションに住む生徒が身につけていた積算線量計が３ヶ月で１・５ミリシーベルトと高い値を示したことから二本松市が周辺の調査を行いました。

The apartment was built in September last year in Nihonmatsu City. According to the Ministry of the Environment, the glass badge worn by a student who lives in the apartment registered 3-month cumulative radiation exposure of 1.5 millisievert on December 27, prompting the city to survey the surrounding area.

その結果マンションの基礎部分のコンクリートから毎時１・４マイクロシーベルト前後、室内からも１・２マイクロシーベルト前後が確認されたと言うことです。環境省ではコンクリート内に放射性物質が混入したまま工事が行われたと見て施工業者から事情を聞くなど確認を進めています。

The survey found 1.4 microsievert/hour from the concrete foundation of the apartment, and 1.2 microsievert/hour inside the apartment. The Ministry of the Environment thinks the apartment was built using concrete with radioactive materials, and is asking the building contractor for details.

I wonder if it is just concrete.

If you recall, 446,000 becquerels/kg of radioactive cesium was detected from the sewage sludge in Fukushima City on May 8, 2011. The sludge had been sold to cement companies until the detection at Koriyama City on April 30, when 26,400 becquerels/kg of radioactive cesium was detected from their sewage sludge. In the case of Koriyama City, over 900 tonnes of this radioactive sludge had been sold to one cement company (Sumitomo Osaka Cement) alone.

If the surface radiation level of the concrete is 1.4 microsievert/hour, I believe the concrete has at least 100,000 becquerels/kg of radioactive cesium in it, if the radiation measurements of sludge and rooftop sediment are any indication.

(UPDATE: I tweeted this news and the information about the radioactive sludge from last year as above in Japanese, and judging by the number of retweets, many Japanese weren't even aware of the highly radioactive sewage sludge was being sold until April 30. Retweets exceeded 100 in probably less than 15 minutes. The news was in the major newspapers then, but I remember people were still sleepwalking, in a way, back then.)

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#Radioactive Concrete Debris (3000 Bq/Kg) OK and Safe to Use in Fukushima Prefecture

What a wonderful present from the Japanese national government to its subjects, particularly those in Fukushima. Instead of coals it gives radioactive concrete bits.

Asahi Shinbun and others report that the Ministry of the Environment, getting bolder by the hour with its 1 trillion yen budget, has decided unilaterally that it is "safe" to use radioactive concrete bits from the March 11 quake/tsunami disaster in Fukushima as substrates under the pavement of the roads and breakwaters in Fukushima.

There will be no effect on the health of residents living nearby, assures the Ministry.

Why are they doing this? Why because they enacted the law that says the radioactive concrete debris in Fukushima to be "recycled".

Why do they have to recycle radioactive debris? Why it's green! Reduces CO2! Kyoto Protocol!

From (still free-of-charge) Asahi Shinbun (12/25/2011):

３千ベクレル以下で再利用可　福島のコンクリートくず

Concrete Debris in Fukushima OK to recycle if the radiation is 3000 becquerels/kg and below

　東日本大震災で福島県内で発生したコンクリートくずの処分をめぐり、環境省は２５日、同県内で再利用するための安全基準を「放射性セシウムが１キロあたり３千ベクレル以下」と決めた。基準を満たしたコンクリートなら、厚さ３０センチ程度のアスファルトや砂利などを上からかぶせることで安全に再利用できるという。

Regarding the disposal of concrete debris within Fukushima Prefecture generated by the March 11 earthquake/tsunami, the Ministry of the Environment decided on December 25 that the safety standard for the debris to be recycled and reused in Fukushima Prefecture was to be 3000 becquerels/kg of radioactive cesium and below. As long as the concrete debris tests within the standard, the Ministry says it can be safely reused by pouring asphalt, sand or gravel 30 centimeters thick on top of it.

　環境省は、道路や防波堤への再利用を想定。道路に再利用する場合、地表から３０センチより深い部分に使える。この際、周辺住民の年間の追加被曝（ひばく）量は０．０１ミリシーベルト以下となり、「健康に影響はない」（廃棄物対策課）としている。

The Ministry of the Environment is envisioning the concrete debris to be used for roads and breakwaters. If used for roads, the debris can be used if more than 30 centimeters deep from the surface. In that case, the additional annual radiation exposure for the residents living nearby will be 0.01 millisievert and less, and therefore "There will be no effect on health".

　福島県内の災害廃棄物は広域処理の対象外で、県内で処理する。コンクリートは、来年１月施行の放射性物質汚染対処特措法の基本方針で再利用が求められていながら、これまで安全基準が示されず、処理が進められない状況だった。

The disaster debris inside Fukushima is not to be the subject of wide area disposal [unlike Miyagi and Iwate debris] and be processed inside the prefecture. As for the concrete debris, the Special Measures for Dealing with Radioactive Materials Contamination, effective as of January next year, calls for the recycling of the concrete debris. However, there was no safety standard as set by the government, and the processing couldn't move forward.

　同省はまた、放射性セシウムが１キロあたり８千ベクレル以下の焼却灰の埋め立て方法について、規制を強めることを決めた。焼却灰が３メートル積み上がるごとに土壌で覆うなど、放射性物質の流出を防ぐ措置を求める。

The Ministry also decided to tighten the regulation on how to bury the ashes containing radioactive cesium at 8000 becquerels/kg and below. The Ministry will call for measures to prevent the leak of radioactive materials by covering the ashes with soil at every 3 meters of the radioactive ashes.

For now, it seems this 3000 becquerels/kg cesium concrete is only for Fukushima Prefecture. But then, the so-called safety standard for the ashes from waste/sludge disposal was only for Fukushima Prefecture in the beginning. It was used as de facto standard for everywhere else, as the Ministry, probably on purpose, did not decide on the safety standard elsewhere. Then after several months of this unofficial standard, it became official for everywhere.

Let's see, what could the citizens of Japan do? They've been protesting, they've been writing, calling, emailing the officials. The government couldn't care less, it simply ignores the subjects whose only worth to the government is that they pay taxes.

Oh, another one. They are enrolled in the national pension scheme (one of the world's largest) from which the government can plunder a huge amount of money. The government has indeed announced it is going to.

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