The latest control shows increased radioactive levels in both running water and food products!
A radioactive iodine level above the legal limit allowed for infants has been detected in tap water in the 35 million people metropolis located 250 kilometers South-West of the Fukushima nuclear plant, announced authorities on Wednesday.
A city official said that a iodine concentration of 210 becquerel per kilogram was found in samples taken from running water, while the limit set by the Japanese for babies is only 100 becquerel.
Also Wednesday, the Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan urged people not to consume vegetables, especially spinach, broccoli, cabbage and cauliflower, where abnormal levels of radioactivity have been detected. He temporarily banned the sale of green vegetables from Fukushima and raw milk and parsley coming from Ibaraki.
Radioactive substances in quantities greater than legal norms have been detected in 11 types of vegetables in areas near the Fukushima nuclear power plant, announced the Japanese Ministry of Health.
A level of 82.000 becquerel radiocaesium - 164 times the legal limit - was measured in leaves of some vegetables from Motomiya, a village in Fukushima Prefecture, together with a level of radioactive iodine of 15.000 becquerel, seven times higher than the limit, according to the ministry.
If a person consumed 100 grams of contaminated vegetables each day for ten days, this would amount to half the radiation level to which a person shhould ever be exposed during a year, the ministry said.
Fear of a major contamination of fish and seafood has intensified Tuesday after the discovery of an abnormally high level of radioactive substances in seawater near the Fukushima plant.
The United States stopped the import of food products from the 4 prefectures surrounding the nuclear plant. France in turn asked the European Commission to impose a "systematic control" of the imports of fresh products from Japan at the EU borders.
The radiation levels in most afected areas of Japan are lower than the ones registered now at Cernobyl (25 years after the desaster there). I do not want to say tha the situation in Japan is OK, but it definitely is better than many of us think. As power is now available at all 6 units, I trust that what was worse is already behind...
ReplyDelete