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Mar 24, 2011
By Michael Winter, USA TODAY A young girl was screened for radiation today at a shelter for residents
evacuated from areas around the damaged Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear
plant. Radiation has seeped into raw milk, seawater and 11 kinds of
vegetables, including broccoli, cauliflower and turnips, grown in areas
around the plant. Austrian researchers, using measurement from a global
network of detectors, reports that levels of iodine-131 and cesium-137
have approached levels from after the 1986 Cherrnobyl disaster.
Emissions of radioactive iodine and cesium from the crippled Fukushima
Dai-ichi nuclear plant have approached levels after the Chernobyl
nuclear disaster in 1986, New Scientist reports. Austrian researchers made the calculations by using the global network
of detectors designed to sniff out clandestine nuclear bomb tests. Iodine-131 is being released at daily levels 73% of those detected after
Chernobyl, while the daily amount of cesium-137 is about 60%, according
to researcher from Austria's Central Institute for Meteorology and
Geodynamics. How do researchers contrast the two accidents? The difference between this accident and Chernobyl, they say, is
that at Chernobyl a huge fire released large amounts of many radioactive
materials, including fuel particles, in smoke. At Fukushima Daiichi,
only the volatile elements, such as iodine and caesium, are bubbling off
the damaged fuel. But these substances could nevertheless pose a
significant health risk outside the plant. The organisation set up to verify the Comprehensive
Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) has a global network of air samplers that
monitor and trace the origin of around a dozen radionuclides, the
radioactive elements released by atomic bomb blasts -- and nuclear
accidents. These measurements can be combined with wind observations to
track where the radionuclides come from, and how much was released. The findings include air samples at Sacramento, Calif., and from
monitoring stations in Alaska, Hawaii and Montreal, Canada. The report comes as Japanese officials announced that radioactive
iodine-131 exceeding safety limits for infants had been detected at 18
water-purification plants in Tokyo and five other prefectures. Officials
said also that the fallout from the Dai-ichi plant is hindering search
efforts for victims from the March 11 earthquake and tsunami. Update at 5:35 p.m. ET: Radiation 10,000 times normal levels has been
measured in the water where three Fukushima plant workers were
irradiated while laying power cable underground at the No. 3 reactor's
turbine building, Kyodo News is reporting.
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