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Authorities in the town of Iwaki, Fukushima Prefecture, on Monday opened a beach to the public for the first time since the nuclear disaster last year. Monday is Marine Day in Japan, a national holiday.
TV media showed town officials opening the beach at Nakoso, TBS reported. Hula girls and beach volleyball players were on hand to get the festivities under way.
The beach is located about 70 kilometers south of the stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. It is the only beach in the prefecture that has been declared safe to swim at by prefectural authorities.
Officials said they will measure the seawater and sand twice a day for radioactive cesium. Currently, the seawater is measuring below 1 becquerel per liter and the air above the sand around 0.07 microsieverts per hour, TBS reported.
Around 1,000 people visited the beach on Monday, officials said.
© Japan Today
20 Comments
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Stuart hayward
"Awesome news", I hope everyone has a great beach day!!!
The_True
who is crazy to go into that water?
tmarie
They measure the for radioactivity but when they find any will they tell the public??
Heda_Madness
Surfers have been surfing off the coast of Fukushima for a while now.
basroil
The_TrueJul. 16, 2012 - 04:49PM JST
I know, it's too cold without a wetsuit. Sitting on the beach though is fine.
Besides, 1Bq/L is absolutely nothing, in fact, they should have said not measurable , and 0.07 microSv/hr is a quarter of the normal amount!
the-grouch
Right.... I borrowed a small Geiger from work and you'd be surprised! the postings online were outdated two months and on another website the sand was measured NOT the ocean water. Just to be on the safe side my family and I drove south to Ooarai in Ibaraki and the levels were1/8 of the levels not so far from there. Still a little high but not dangerously high. Also JUST to be safe, we were only there for two hours tops and NO getting in the water. I really disappointed everyone I took there but safety first. I will wait a little bit more a drive my family to Nihonkai next month. That's probably a better choice. Right, safe my arse.
Fadamor
LOL. How will you EVER survive the radiation that is constantly bombarding you everyday in your "safe" home? You're DOOMED! May as well give up and seal yourself and your family in a lead box.
PT24881
Didnot see any political personage from Tokyo to show up on the beach in front of Reporters' cameras ? Smart guys !
Bob Sneider
yay lets soak in the waters, where nuclear waste is dumped further up the coast! Idiots! Even here in Tokyo, the radiation is higher than normal.
uzneko
"the TOWN of Iwaki" We're one of the biggest cities in Japan, please correct that.
basroil
DoYouRikeSushiJul. 17, 2012 - 12:10AM JST
Linear no threshold model has been proven false time and time again. Regardless, 0.07 is a third of the 0.2 average MEXT had before Fukushima, so it's safer now!
Stuart hayward
I hope you realize that (people are living) in these comunities!' they work, eat and sleep there, why should they not enjoy A nice day out?. Do you think that it is safer and healthier, to only stay in doors for the next 30 years? True I have only surfed that far north once,since the disaster and I didn't bring my youngest child with me, it is Possible to enjoy the beach without having to swim or surf. I wish nothing but the BEST, (for everyone) who lives in these communities and hope that a day outside can bring back A little normalcy into their family's!!!
kurisupisu
The Japanese have invented a new tragic-comedic form of expression for the 21st century.
Who said creativity was finished in Nippon!?!
nath
I would pay to see Noda and his cabinet having a beach volleyball competition there vs. TEPCO board of directors. I'd pay extra to see him in a donut lounging in the water.
waltery
Lead swimsuits! Could be a Japanese initiative worth researching
basroil
walteryJul. 17, 2012 - 11:49AM JST
Sure, if you want to drown everyone and poison them and the water supply. Hell, it would be safer to swim in the spent fuel pools than wear a lead swimsuit to the ocean.
basroil
DoYouRikeSushiJul. 17, 2012 - 12:34PM JST
Now that is dangerous idea, some of that land is about 10000 times more contaminated than the beach, I would much rather get a house in Minamisoma and drive though the exclusion zone to this beach than live in Pyprat (up to 9.5 microSv/hr, well above the recommended rate for long term exposure)