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Fukushima internal exposures low, study finds
Some 99% of residents of Fukushima prefecture and neighbouring Ibaraki have barely detectable levels of internal exposure to caesium-137, a group of Japanese researchers has found. Of the remaining 1%, all showed levels well below the government-set limit.
A group of researchers headed by Professor Ryugo Hayano of the University of Tokyo studied the results of whole body scans carried out at Hirata Central Hospital in Fukushima prefecture between October 2011 and November 2012. Their finding - published in the Proceedings of the Japan Academy - show much lower internal exposure levels than estimates based on the finding of post-Chernobyl accident studies.
The team found that levels of caesium-137 were well below the detectable threshold of 300 becquerels per body for 9886 (88%) of the residents tested between October 2011 and February 2012. For the remaining 12% (1340 people), their exposure levels generally ranged between 10 and 50 bequerels per kilogram (Bq/kg). However, 21,785 (99%) of the residents tested between March and November 2012 had no detectable exposure, while the remaining 1% (212 people) mainly had exposure levels between around 10 and 25 Bq/kg. A policy introduced in March 2012 for subjects to change from their usual clothes into hopital gowns contributed to this sharp decrease.
The highest rates - about 1 millisievert per year - were found in four people, aged between 66 and 74, who were discovered to have been regularly eating unscreened food such as wild mushrooms, wild boar and freshwater fish. However, after following advice not to eat such food, their internal exposure levels significantly dropped. A study of the results of whole body scans of nearly 1500 school children in the town of Miharu, Fukushima prefecture, found that although 54 had detectable levels of caesium-137 exposure in the winter of 2011, by the autumn of 2012 no children were found to have detectable levels.
http://www.world-nuclear-news.org/RS-Fukushima_internal_exposures_low_study_finds-1104134.html
A group of researchers headed by Professor Ryugo Hayano of the University of Tokyo studied the results of whole body scans carried out at Hirata Central Hospital in Fukushima prefecture between October 2011 and November 2012. Their finding - published in the Proceedings of the Japan Academy - show much lower internal exposure levels than estimates based on the finding of post-Chernobyl accident studies.
The team found that levels of caesium-137 were well below the detectable threshold of 300 becquerels per body for 9886 (88%) of the residents tested between October 2011 and February 2012. For the remaining 12% (1340 people), their exposure levels generally ranged between 10 and 50 bequerels per kilogram (Bq/kg). However, 21,785 (99%) of the residents tested between March and November 2012 had no detectable exposure, while the remaining 1% (212 people) mainly had exposure levels between around 10 and 25 Bq/kg. A policy introduced in March 2012 for subjects to change from their usual clothes into hopital gowns contributed to this sharp decrease.
The highest rates - about 1 millisievert per year - were found in four people, aged between 66 and 74, who were discovered to have been regularly eating unscreened food such as wild mushrooms, wild boar and freshwater fish. However, after following advice not to eat such food, their internal exposure levels significantly dropped. A study of the results of whole body scans of nearly 1500 school children in the town of Miharu, Fukushima prefecture, found that although 54 had detectable levels of caesium-137 exposure in the winter of 2011, by the autumn of 2012 no children were found to have detectable levels.
http://www.world-nuclear-news.org/RS-Fukushima_internal_exposures_low_study_finds-1104134.html
