#Radioactive Firewood, This Time from Miyagi Prefecture: 730 Bq/kg Cesium in Wood Would Become 130K Bq/kg in Ashes

Miyagi Prefecture, whose governor has simultaneously insisted that there was no radiation contamination in his prefecture and that his prefecture needs support (aka money) from the national government to deal with radiation contamination, has been found with firewood very much contaminated with radioactive cesium, the only radionuclide that the government cares to measure.

The Ministry of the Environment survey found the firewood from southern Miyagi tested high in radioactive cesium, with the maximum of 730 becquerels/kg in one town. If you burn this wood, the resulting ashes would contain 132,860 becquerels/kg of radioactive cesium.

From Yomiuri Shinbun (2/10/2012):

宮城県南部で薪(まき)とその焼却灰に含まれる放射性物質を調査していた環境省は１０日、薪から最大で国の指標値の１８倍にあたる放射性セシウムを検出したと発表した。

The Ministry of the Environment announced on February 10 that radioactive cesium 18 times the national safety limit [40 becquerels/kg] was detected in the firewood from southern Miyagi. The ministry had been conducting the test of firewood and the ashes from burning the firewood in southern Miyagi for radioactive materials.

焼却灰からも、最大で国の基準値の７倍に上るセシウムが検出された。

Radioactive cesium 7 times the national safety limit [8000 becquerels/kg] was detected from the ashes.

　同省によると、１月２６、２７日に県南９市町で実施。薪は６市町で指標値（１キロ・グラムあたり４０ベクレル）を超え、村田町７３０ベクレル、白石市６７０ベクレル、丸森町４６０ベクレルなどを検出。焼却灰も４市町で一般廃棄物として処分できる国の基準値（同８０００ベクレル）を上回り、丸森町で５万９０００ベクレル、白石市２万８０００ベクレルなどを検出した。

According to the ministry, the test was conducted in 9 municipalities in southern Miyagi on January 26 and 27. In 6 municipalities, the densities of radioactive cesium exceeded the national safety limit (40 becquerels/kg): 730 Bq/kg in Murata-machi, 670 Bq/kg in Shiraishi City, 460 Bq/kg in Marumori-machi. In 4 municipalities, the ashes exceeded the national safety limit (8000 Bq/kg) for safe disposal as regular waste: 59,000 Bq/kg in Marumori-machi, 28,000 Bq/kg in Shiraishi City.

　結果を受けて宮城県は、薪を風呂やストーブに使用せず、灰は袋などに入れて保管するよう呼びかけている。

On receiving the results, the Miyagi prefectural government is calling the residents not to use firewood for baths and stoves, and to keep the ashes in bags and store them.

The news probably came too late for many people in Miyagi. But after 11 months, isn't it time people started to think for themselves? Or am I asking too much?

The Ministry of the Environment has a press release of the result, here.

And contrary to popular belief in Japan, a researcher at Tokyo University of Agriculture says that radioactive cesium has penetrated deep inside the wood. So, even if the bark is stripped off the firewood, radioactive cesium is still there in the wood.

Tweet

#Radioactive Okinawa Noodles and Pizzas from Radioactive Ashes from Radioactive Firewood from Fukushima

Radiation's reach is indeed long. Okinawa is as far away as you can get in Japan from Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant, and there has hardly been any radioactive fallout. Maybe because of that, businesses in Okinawa don't seem to be much concerned about radioactive contamination in goods.

Here's an example of some Okinawa restaurants having bought firewood from (of all places) Fukushima Prefecture via a distributor in Gifu Prefecture who clearly thought it could get away with it; one of the restaurants made the traditional "Okinawa Soba (noodle)" using the ashes from the radioactive firewood, and has already served the noodles to the customers.

As usual, the familiar refrain from the government officials: "There is no effect on health." They might as well add "Just keep on smiling."

From Okinawa Times (2/8/2012):

県は７日、福島県産のまきを本島内の４飲食店がすでに使用し、うち１店舗では未使用のまきからは最大で、国の指標値４０ベクレル（１キログラム当たり）の約１１倍に当たる４６８ベクレルの放射性セシウムを検出したと発表した。別の店では、使用後の灰からも最大で指標値８０００ベクレルの約５倍に当たる３万９９６０ベクレルを検出。県は「消費者、従業員とも健康に影響が出る量ではない」としている。

Okinawa Prefecture announced on February 7 that 4 restaurants in Okinawa have used firewood from Fukushima Prefecture, and in one of the restaurant the maximum 468 becquerels/kg of radioactive cesium was detected from the firewood, which is about 11 times the level of the national safety limit for radioactive cesium in firewood (40 becquerels/kg). In another restaurant, 39,960 becquerels/kg of radioactive cesium was detected from the ashes after the firewood was burned, which is about 5 times the level of the national safety limit of 8,000 becquerels/kg. The Okinawa prefectural government says, "For both the consumers and the employees at these restaurants, there is no effect on health at these levels."

　一方、まきを県内に出荷した岐阜県の流通業者代表は「高圧洗浄し、本巣市の検査も通っているので、大丈夫だと思った」と話し、問題を指摘されたまきは早急に回収するという。

The distributor who sold the firewood to Okinawa says, "We washed the firewood with a high-pressure washer, and it passed the test by Motosu City [in Gifu Prefecture]. So we thought it would be OK." The distributor will recall the firewood in question.

　福島県産まきを取り扱っていた飲食店は窯焼きピザを提供するレストラン３店舗と沖縄そば店。レストラン２店舗のまきと使用後の灰から指標値を超えるセシウムが検出された。

The restaurants that used the firewood from Fukushima were 3 restaurants offering kiln-baked pizzas and 1 noodle shop offering "Okinawa Soba" noodles. From the firewood and the ashes at 2 restaurants, radioactive cesium exceeding the safety standards was detected.

　一方、沖縄そば店は、セシウムが検出されたレストランから、使用後の灰を譲り受け、麺を製造。一部はすでに客へ提供していた。県の検査では、客へ提供する前の麺から２５８ベクレル（指標値５００ベクレル）、灰１２６０～８０６０ベクレルが検出された。灰を調べた３検体のうち、一つで指標値を超えた。

The noodle shop got the ashes from burning the firewood from the restaurant where radioactive cesium exceeding the safety limit was detected to make noodles. Part of the noodles has already been served to the customers. According to the test by the prefectural government, 258 becquerels/kg of radioactive cesium was detected from the noodles (safety standard is 500 becquerels/kg), and 1,260 to 8060 becquerels/kg of radioactive cesium was detected from the ashes. Of three samples of ashes, one of them exceeded the safety limit [of 8,000 becquerels/kg].

　残りのレストラン１店舗と配送業者は測定中で、２～３日後に検査結果を公表する。

The tests at the remaining 1 restaurant and the shipper are on-going, and the test results will be published in 2 to 3 days.

　県は、まきを使用して調理した場合、放射性セシウムが食品に付着する量は２％以下との国の指針を示し、「（まきから検出された）最大値の４６８ベクレルでも、食品には９ベクレル程度しか付着せず、この食品を摂取しても健康被害は出ない」と強調。調理する従業員についても常にまきの側にいるわけでなく、放射線を浴びる時間が短いことなどから影響はないとしている。

The Okinawa prefectural government points to the national guideline that says less than 2% of radioactive cesium in the firewood will be transferred to the food being cooked, and says "Even at the maximum 468 becquerels/kg, only 9 becquerels will be transferred to food, and there is no health effect even if you ingest this food." The prefectural government also says there is no effect on the employees who cook with the firewood, because they won't be at the firewood all the time, and the amount of time they are exposed to radiation is short.

　福島県産のまきは、岐阜県の流通業者が昨年１１月に１５・７トンを県内に出荷。８・４トンをレストランに販売した。残り７・３トンは那覇港近くのコンテナに保管している。レストランで保管している未使用のまきは０・７トンで、県内の配送業者が回収し、コンテナで保管している分と合わせて、８日に大阪経由で福島に送り返す。

The distributor in Gifu Prefecture sold 15.7 tonnes of firewood from Fukushima Prefecture in Okinawa. 8.4 tonnes of it have been sold to restaurants. The remaining 7.3 tonnes are stored in a container near the Naha Port. 0.7 tonne of the firewood sold to restaurants is not used, and the shipper in the prefecture will collect them and ship it, along with what remains in the container, back to Fukushima via Osaka on February 8.

"Okinawa Soba" is like ramen noodles, and instead of brine it often uses lye from the ashes.

If you burn firewood with 468 becquerels/kg of radioactive cesium, it will result in ashes with 85,176 becquerels/kg of radioactive cesium (468 x 182). Even by the lax "standard" of the Ministry of the Environment, you wouldn't be able to bury these ashes in a regular dump, not to mention using it in your garden. You certainly wouldn't want to use them in your noodles, because the transfer rate from the ashes to the noodles seems rather high from the example in the article.

Radioactive beef and radioactive leaf compost have already reached Okinawa, and I hear that Kanto and Tohoku vegetables are freely sold in Okinawa.

Still, the national government, just like last year, is set to do everything to help the producers in Fukushima who have been suffering from "baseless rumors" called radioactive materials.

Tweet

#Radioactive Firewood Resulted in 43,780 Bq/Kg Radioactive Ashes in Nihonmatsu City

So, clearly there was a good reason why IAEA went to measure the radiation levels in Nihonmatsu City, Fukushima Prefecture when they came in March 2011 right after the March 11 nuclear accident.

From Jiji Tsushin (1/19/2012):

環境省は１９日、福島県二本松市内の民家で使用されたまきストーブの灰から、１キロ当たり４万３７８０ベクレルの放射性セシウムが検出されたと発表した。

The Ministry of the Environment announced on January 19 that 43,780 becquerels/kg of radioactive cesium was detected from the ashes in a wood stove used in a personal residence in Nihonmatsu City, Fukushima Prefecture.

Ashes are used as soil amendment.

The safety standards for firewood and charcoal were not even in place until November last year. According to the Forestry Agency, the safety limit for firewood is 40 becquerels/kg of radioactive cesium, and 280 becquerels/kg for charcoal so that the resultant ashes would not contain more than 8,000 becquerels/kg of radioactive cesium.

The Agency's Q&A says:

From the incineration tests, when 1 kg of firewood is burned it results in 5 grams of ashes, and 1 kg of charcoal in 30 grams of ashes, with 90% of radioactive cesium remaining in the ashes.

That means radioactive cesium density in 1 kg of ashes is 182 times as much as that of 1 kg of firewood, and 28 times as much as that of 1 kg of charcoal.

2% of radioactive cesium in firewood/charcoal, when used in cooking, was transferred to the food.

Oh wait a minute. 10% of radioactive cesium that is in the wood/charcoal is released in the air when burned?

Reading further, the Agency openly encourage the bundling of radioactive firewood/charcoal that exceed the safety limit with those without any cesium detected:

It is OK to bundle firewood or charcoal that exceed the safety standard with firewood or charcoal that does not exceed the safety standard, and sell the bundle as long as it is not shipped across the prefectural border. [What's the point of that?]

To dispose the ashes of unknown radioactive cesium density, do not use as soil amendment in gardens and farmlands. Dispose them appropriately as waste products.

How?

The Agency does not say. I don't think ANY seller of firewood or charcoal is measuring the radioactivity, and I don't think any user of wood stove who gets the wood from the mountains in their backyard is measuring it either.

They say that's how the soil contamination after the Chernobyl accident remained high - cut the woods that were doused with radioactive materials, burn them in stoves for heat and cooking, use the ashes as soil amendment to grow food.

That's happening in Japan now, thanks partly to bureaucrats in the government ministries but also to the general public who still don't connect the March 11 Fuku I accident with radioactive materials all around them.

Tweet

NPO in Fukui Selling Buddhist Rosaries and Bracelets Made of Rikuzen Takata Pine

whose bark was found with 1,130 becquerels/kg of radioactive cesium.

From Yomiuri Shinbun (12:59AM JST 8/23/2011):

「京都五山送り火」用の薪(まき)から放射性セシウムが検出され、岩手県陸前高田市の被災松を使った薪の販売を中止した福井県坂井市のＮＰＯ法人「ふくい災害ボランティアネット」が、セシウム不検出だった幹の中心部分を加工した念珠とブレスレットの販売を続けている。

A Sakai City, Fukui Prefecture-based NPO "Fukui Disaster Volunteer Net" has been selling the Buddhist rosaries and bracelets made out of the core of the trunk of the pine trees that was felled in the March 11 disaster in Rikuzen Takat City in Iwate Prefecture. The firewood made out of those pine trees was to be used at "Gozan no Okuribi" in Kyoto, but radioactive materials were detected [from the bark of the wood]. There was no radioactive cesium detected from the core.

　東角操代表は「安全な部分を使ってしっかり復興支援をしたい」と話す。

Misao Higashikado of "Fukui Disaster Volunteer Net" says his organization wants to support the recovery by [commemorating the disaster] using the safe part of the wood.

　「震災の記憶を風化させないように」との願いを込め、玉の一つに「３・１１」と刻んだ。７月下旬にインターネットで通信販売を始め、今月１６日の送り火の後、茨城大に検査を依頼したところ、幹の部分からはセシウムは検出されなかった。

One bead of the rosary/bracelet is engraved with "3.11", so that the memory of the disaster does not fade away. The NPO started to sell the rosaries/bracelets on the internet in late July. After the "Okuribi" on August 16, the NPO asked Ibaraki University to test for radiation, but there was no radioactive cesium detected from the trunk of the tree.

　念珠は３０００円、ブレスレットが１８００円。

A Buddhist rosary sells for 3,000 yen (US$39), and a bracelet sells for 1,800 yen (US$23).

　同ネットのホームページ（http://www.fukkou.org/contact-us/tyumon）で購入できる。

You can buy them at the website of the NPO "Fukui Disaster Volunteer Net", at http://www.fukkou.org/contact-us/tyumon

Disaster capitalism alive and well.

Oh wait, it is not really a capitalism. It's done by an NPO, non-profit organization. I should say "social entrepreneurism", then I'm totally politically correct.

(An NPO in Fukui Prefecture asking the university in Ibaraki Prefecture for testing? That's rather far, far away.)

Tweet

Just Burn Radioactive Materials Then They're Harmless, said One Japanese Economist

If that's true, the entire Fukushima I Nuke Plant can blow up in a huge bonfire and we'll be all set.

Nobuo Ikeda is a Japanese economist and commentator and a former NHK director. He has a sizeable following in Japan and is considered influential. I am just parroting what I've found about him, as all I know of him is the tweet he wrote and disseminated to his 120,000-plus followers from his Twitter account on August 13 (which has been taken down since), in which he, commenting on the decision by Kyoto City not to use the radioactive firewood from Rikuzen Takata City, apparently said:

「燃やせば放射性物質は分解されて無害になるのを京都市役所は知らないのか？」

Doesn't the Kyoto City government know that radioactive materials will be dissolved and rendered harmless once they get burned?

I sure didn't.

Mr. Ikeda also says it's a superstition that low-level radiation exposure causes cancer, according to his tweet on August 12 (in Japanese), and that the "anti-nuke" movement is nothing but a powerless conspiracy among the left and the ultra-left, former radical left from the 1960s.

Tweet

Now It's #Radioactive Firewood: But It's "Culturally Insensitive" Not to Burn It, Say Japanese Radiation Experts

They were going to burn it in Kyoto in the annual "Gozan no Okuribi" - ceremonial bonfire to send off the spirits of the dead at the end of Bon Festival. It was going to be burned for the people who died in the disaster-affected area, particularly in Rikuzen Takata City in Iwate Prefecture, where the firewood was made from the fallen pine trees.

When the news first broke of the plan to use the firewood from Rikuzen Takata City in Iwate, 185 km north of Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant, concerned Kyoto residents protested, fearing the spread of radioactive materials by burning the wood. The residents were roundly scolded for being selfish, uncaring, insensitive to the people who suffered so much in the earthquake/tsunami of March 11.

Then, on August 10, radioactive cesium was detected, as high as 1,480 becquerels/kg, from the debris in Rikuzen Takata City.

Someone decided to test the new batch of firewood that came from Rikuzen Takata City on August 11, and they turned out to be radioactive. Not much, in the current radioactive state of things in Japan, as it was "only" 1,130 becquerels/kg of radioactive cesium.

Kyoto City has decided not to use the firewood after all. But the city is being scolded for overreacting and "culturally insensitive". Kyoto? Culturally insensitive?

From Yomiuri Shinbun (12:06AM 8/13/2011):

「せっかく五山の足並みがそろったのに」――。「京都五山送り火」で燃やす予定だった岩手県陸前高田市の松で作った薪(まき)から放射性セシウムが検出され、計画の中止が決まった１２日、京都市や送り火保存会の関係者は落胆と戸惑いを隠せなかった。

"Just when we thought we were all going to do it..." On August 12, Kyoto City decided not to burn the firewood made from the pine trees from Rikuzen Takata City in Iwate prefecture because of radioactive cesium detected from the firewood. The firewood was to be burned in the "Kyoto Gozan no Okuribi" bonfire [on August 16]. Organizers of the event in Kyoto City were disappointed and perplexed.

　再度の使用中止について、京都市の門川大作市長は「陸前高田市をはじめ、被災地の皆様に悲しい思いをさせてしまい、心を痛めている。尽力頂いた皆様に心からおわびします」と肩を落とした。門川市長は、「（薪は）食品と違って国の基準はなく、国には早く基準を示してほしい」と繰り返した。

Kyoto City Mayor Daisaku Kadokawa apologized, "I am heart-broken for having disappointed people in Rikuzen Takata City and in the disaster-affected areas. I sincerely apologize to people who have put in tremendous effort in making it happen." The mayor repeated, "there is no national safety standard for firewood. I urge the national government to create the safety standard as soon as possible."

　薪を提供した福井県坂井市のＮＰＯ法人「ふくい災害ボランティアネット」の東角(ひがしかど)操代表（５３）は頭を抱えた。薪の売り上げを復興支援にあてる計画で、５月に陸前高田市の国の名勝「高田松原」から、津波で流された松を回収、販売し、７月中旬から、発送を始めたばかり。これまで薪を１本ずつ簡易検査し、放射性物質は検出されなかったという。「少しでも復興の力になればと始めた活動が、思いもよらぬ事態になって戸惑っている」と東角代表は語った。

The firewood was provided by an NPO "Fukui Disaster Volunteer Net" in Sakai City in Fukui Prefecture. The head of the NPO, Misao Higashikado doesn't know what to do. He planned the proceeds from the sale of the firewood to go to the disaster relief effort, and in May his organization collected the pine trees felled in the March 11 tsunami from "Takata Matsubara", a national scenic spot, and started to sell the firewood made from the pine trees. The shipment just started in mid July. He says every piece of the firewood has been tested one by one by a simple testing, and that no radioactive materials have been detected. "I am bewildered by the turn of events. We just wanted to help the recovery in the disaster-affected area", he says.

The head of this NPO, Misao Higashikado, is also an Assemblyman in the Fukui Prefectural Assembly.

The mayor of Kyoto City sounds like he would order the burning as soon as there's a national safety limit for firewood, even if that limit is 8,000 becquerels/kg or 100,000 becquerels/kg. (Well, there is no filter that could trap radioactive materials in the open-air burning like this.)

The so-called radiation experts are still excoriating Kyoto City and its residents for insensitivity, according to Mainichi Shinbun Japanese (8/12/2011):

One of them, Otsura Niwa, professor emeritus at Kyoto University (radiation biology) and the main committee member of the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) says:

「仮に表皮を１キロ食べ、全て体に吸収されたとしても取るに足らない線量」と指摘した上で、「意味のないクリーンさを求めた今回の判断は被災地の方々の気持ちを踏みにじるものだ」

"Even if one ate 1 kilogram of the bark [they tested the bark] and it were all absorbed in the body, the radiation level would be negligible. It's a meaningless pursuit of cleanliness that tramples down the feelings of the people in the disaster-affected area."

Another one, Ikuro Anzai, professor emeritus at Ritsumeikan University, even if his specialty is radiation protection, accuses people in Kyoto (of all people in Japan...) of destroying the cultural tradition of Japan:

「五山の送り火は伝統的神事という性格を持つ。放射能がけがれのようにとらえられたのではないか。今回の件は科学の問題ではなく、文化の問題となっている。解決も文化的に行うべきで、犠牲者への追悼のセレモニーをやった方がいい」と提案する。

"'Gozan no Okuribi' is a traditional religious ceremony. I suspect the radiation was taken as uncleanliness or defilement. This is not the matter of science but of culture. It should be solved culturally, and the memorial ceremony for the deceased should be performed."

Professor Anzai, radiation contamination is indeed uncleanliness, and it cannot be cleaned by spreading it all over Kyoto. The memorial ceremony for the deceased can be performed without burning the radioactive firewood over the city of Kyoto. I do not believe the deceased in the disaster-affected areas would want to spread the radiation unnecessarily.

Not to be outdone by the specialists, the mayor of Rikuzen Takata City chimes in:

京都市に対しては、「風評被害を広げ、他の被災地にも京都市民にも迷惑がかかっている。もっと慎重にやっていただきたかった」と苦言を呈した

To Kyoto City, the mayor said, "It has spread the baseless rumor [that the firewood from Rikuzen Takata is radioactive - never mind it is], and that has inconvenienced people in the disaster-affected areas and residents in Kyoto City. I would have liked the city to proceed more cautiously."

Here we go. Radioactive firewood is just another "baseless rumor".

Tweet