Sea Radiation from Fukushima Seen Triple of
Prior Estimate
Fukushima Power Plant
EMF Protection Devices
Magnetic Field Detector
September 9, 2011
Radioactive material released into the sea in the Fukushima
nuclear power plant crisis is more than triple the amount
estimated by plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co,
Japanese researchers say.
TOKYO (Reuters) - Radioactive material released into the
sea in the Fukushima nuclear power plant crisis is more than
triple the amount estimated by plant operator Tokyo Electric
Power Co, Japanese researchers say.
Japan's biggest utility estimated around 4,720 trillion
becquerels of cesium-137 and iodine-131 was released into
the Pacific Ocean between March 21 and April 30, but
researchers at the Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) put the
amount 15,000 trillion becquerels, or terabecquerels.
Government regulations ban shipment of foodstuff
containing over 500 becquerels of radioactive material per
kg.
Takuya Kobayashi, a researcher at the agency, said on
Friday the difference in figures was probably because his
team measured airborne radioactive material that fell into
the ocean in addition to material from contaminated water
that leaked from the plant.
He believed Tepco excluded radiation that originally came
from airborne material. The report does not include
cesium-134 as the research group initially lacked resources
to measure it, meaning the amount of estimated radioactive
material will increase with further calculations.
The March 11 earthquake and tsunami knocked out reactor
cooling systems at Fukushima Daiichi, 240 km (150 miles)
north of Tokyo, triggering meltdowns and radiation leaks.
Huge amounts of contaminated water accumulated during
efforts to cool the reactors, with much of it reaching the
sea, and radiation has been found in fish, seaweed and other
seafood.
Tepco edged closer this week to its near-term goal of
bringing the reactors to a state of cold shutdown by
January, with the temperature at the second of three damaged
units falling below boiling point.
(Reporting by Yuko Takeo; Editing by
Michael Watson)
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