全国の水道の放射能濃度

By Hiroko Tabuchi - The New York Times - October 14, 2011

Toshiyuki Hattori, who runs a sewage plant in Tokyo, surrounded by sacks of radioactive sludge.  Kazuhiro Yokozeki for The New York Times

TOKYO — Takeo Hayashida signed on with a citizens’ group to test for radiation near his son’s baseball field in Tokyo after government officials told him they had no plans to check for fallout from the devastated Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant. Like Japan’s central government, local officials said there was nothing to fear in the capital, 160 miles from the disaster zone.

Then came the test result: the level of radioactive cesium in a patch of dirt just yards from where his 11-year-old son, Koshiro, played baseball was equal to those in some contaminated areas around Chernobyl.

The patch of ground was one of more than 20 spots in and around the nation’s capital that the citizens’ group, and the respected nuclear research center they worked with, found were contaminated with potentially harmful levels of radioactive cesium.

The Mainichi Daily News - October 12, 2011        

Workers decontaminate radiation from the roof of Yasawa Kindergarten in Minami-Soma, about 12 miles (20 kilometers) away from the tsunami-crippled Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear facility, in Fukushima prefecture, northeastern Japan, Thursday, Aug. 18, 2011.  Photo - Associated Press (AP)

As the crisis at the Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Plant drags on, worries are growing particularly among Fukushima Prefecture residents over drawn-out and in some cases apparently futile nuclear decontamination operations.

The unease is especially strong in areas in and around mountains that must be repeatedly decontaminated, as every rainfall brings a new batch of radioactive substance-contaminated leaves and soil washing down from the hills. Since some 70 percent of Fukushima Prefecture is mountainous, such instances of regular recontamination could occur over a broad area, while the same effect has also been observed in some undeveloped areas of cities.

by Eric Talmadge - Associated Press - boston.com - October 9, 2011

A boy is taken by his mother to Fukushima Medical University Hospital for a thyroid test in Fukushima, northern Japan, Sunday, Oct. 9, 2011. Local doctors began a long-term survey of children for thyroid abnormalities, a problem associated with radiation exposure. Officials hope to test some 360,000 people who were under the age of 18 when the nuclear crisis began in March, and then provide follow-ups throughout their lifetimes. Japanese on the board reads: a thyroid test entrance. (AP Photo/Kyodo News)

TOKYO—Experts from the International Atomic Energy Agency arrived in the Japanese city of Fukushima on Sunday to observe the massive decontamination effort following the world's worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl.

Local doctors also began a long-term survey of children for thyroid abnormalities, a problem associated with radiation exposure. Officials hope to test some 360,000 people who were under the age of 18 when the nuclear crisis began in March, and then provide follow-ups throughout their lifetimes.

The Daily Yomiuri - September 20, 2011

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. (MHI) has come under cyber-attack by unidentified hackers who are believed to have stolen confidential data from defense- and nuclear power-related facilities run by the major machinery maker, sources familiar with the case said.

About 80 servers and computers at MHI factories, including those used to build state-of-the-art submarines, missiles and nuclear power plants, have been infected with computer viruses, according to the sources.

"We are investigating all the facts of the case," an MHI spokesman said.

The servers and computers in question were apparently penetrated from outside the company, and there are indications that some confidential information has been stolen from the machines.

MHI reported the incident to police after concluding that its servers and computers had been targeted by what are known as spear attacks, the sources said.

The latest revelation is the first of its kind to be made in connection with cyber-attack on the nation's defense industry, according to observers.

submitted by Stuart Leiderman - September 26, 2011

The radiation pattern suggested by the map at http://www.japantimes.co.jp/radiation-levels.html does not follow the simple radii circles; thus the map does not educate the public on controlling factors.

It would be better to have maps with iso-lines that account for topography, weather history, soil type, etc.  Then, an agricultural defense might be envisioned.  This requires a new national soil survey, including radiology, and land-use inventory.

'best,

Stuart

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/radiation-levels.html

by Hiroko Tabuchi - The New York Times - September 24, 2011

In this photo taken Friday, Aug. 19, 2011, Naoto Matsumura's dog Aki runs to meet him while he checks on his rice paddy in Tomioka town, Fukushima, northeastern Japan. (AP / Hiro Komae)

TOKYO — Government officials on Saturday ordered more tests after detecting elevated levels of radiation in rice crops near the crippled nuclear power plant at Fukushima.

Radioactive substances have already been discovered in beef, milk, spinach and tea leaves, leading to recalls and bans on shipments. But officials have been especially worried about rice, a staple that makes up a significant part of the Japanese diet. Japan grows most of the rice that it consumes.

The Guardian - September 12, 2011

Rescue workers and medics land by helicopter at the Marcoule nuclear site, in France. Photograph: Claude Paris/AP

An explosion at a French nuclear waste processing plant that killed one person and injured four others sparked fears of a radioactive leak on Monday.

An emergency safety cordon was thrown around the Marcoule nuclear site near Nimes in the south of France immediately after a furnace used to melt nuclear waste exploded and caused a fire. It was lifted later in the day after France's nuclear safety agency, the Autorité de Sûreté Nucléaire (ASN), said there was no danger to the public.

Reports said the body of one male worker at the plant had been "found carbonised", but there was no evidence that the explosion had caused any radioactive leak, though the ASN admitted there was the "possibility of a leak of low-level radioactivity, but no shooting of radioactivity in the air". There was no information as to the cause of the explosion.

The accident came just a week after the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, bucked the anti-nuclear trend following Japan's Fukushima disaster and pledged €1bn (£860m) of new investment in atomic power.

by Mizuho Aoki - The Japan Times - September 11, 2011

Cesium absorption through roots may have long-term effect on farming

Six months after the nuclear meltdowns in Fukushima Prefecture, the public's awareness of the threat posed by radiation is entering a new phase: the realization that the biggest danger now and in the future is from contaminated soil.

The iodine-131 ejected into the sky by the Fukushima No. 1 power station disaster was quickly detected in vegetables and tap water — even as far away as Tokyo, 220 km south of the plant.

But contamination levels are now so low they are virtually undetectable, thanks to the short half-life of iodine-131 — eight days — and stepped up filtering by water companies.

But cesium is proving to be a tougher foe. The element's various isotopes have half-lives ranging from two to 30 years, generating concern about the food chain in Fukushima Prefecture, a predominantly agricultural region, as the elements wash fallout into the ground.

The root of the problem is, well — roots.