Decontamination efforts began at several “hot spots” – areas where especially high radiation levels were detected - in and around Fukushima City on Sunday and continued Monday. Some 400 experts and 3,500 residents are participating in the effort. Residents worked to haul mud and debris from gutters and deweed the area.
Additionally, a specialized cleaning vehicle decontaminated certain roads, especially those used by children to commute to school. After the initial cleanup, residents reported Monday morning that the radiation level had dropped by about half, from 10 to around 5 microsieverts an hour.
The cleanup area is about 90 kilometers away from the troubled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, outside of the mandatory evacuation zone. But concerns began to rise when a high reading of 3.83 microsieverts/hr was measured in June. The cleanup was initiated in the hopes of avoiding the need for an evacuation of the area, local officials said.
© Japan Today
21 Comments
Login to comment
gogogo
Japan need a kick in the butt to do anything.
smithinjapan
Wow! Only nearly five months after the fact! Can we make a Japanese TV drama about a rapid-response team? Or should it just be a new CSI and tell the truth about how they are murdering the people there.
"Additionally, a specialized cleaning vehicle decontaminated certain roads, especially those used by children to commute to school."
Yeah, why get the kids out of danger when you can splash a bit of dangerous chemicals on the road five months after they've been walking up and down them anyway? This is how much Fukushima cares: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVuGwc9dlhQ
electric2004
Dear Moderators and editors:
How can a reading of
be regarded as high, when
"the radiation level had dropped by about half, to around 5 microseiverts an hour"?
5 is NOT half of 3.83, but approximately 50 percent more.
And, by the way, it is not "5 microseiverts" but 5 microsieverts. (change the position of "i" and "e").
Thank you for your understanding.
cactusJack
Yeah, these numbers do not add up.
Utrack
This sentence tells me the before the cleanup the READINGS in this Hot Spot must have risen to 10 MICROSIEVERTS an Hour, due to Fallout Accumulation. Their just not saying so plainly.
Something must have happened at Daiichi for the readings to rise to 3x the level detected in June.
gogogo
Have a read... people should not feel safe!
Experts warn that any detectable level of radiation is "too much". http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/features/2011/04/20114219250664111.html
Asagao
Why bother cleaning up. Just declare the whole area(120km from Daiichi), a protected national park. Then Japan can get carbon credits and cut some trees in Borneo.
Cricky
They clean up but more falls it's a losing battle, the site is continuing to spew it's toxic brew. Flee and wait until it's calmed down.
nath
Please spread this video to those you know:
Japanese government killing its own people in Fukushima http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVuGwc9dlhQ
I also implore Japan Today to post this to their front page for the sake of the people. Please
Utrack
WHAT Protective Gear if any are the residents wearing to perform this Hazardous Cleanup Duty 3,500 residents.
I'm answer my own question, less than no protective gear. Less than the residents of Okuna when holding their Memorial service. I am so hurt.
EVERYONE Please watch the above link from ssway.
YuriOtani
The numbers make no sense to me. They should be going down but have tripped? So what is the truth? The question is what radioactive isotopes are present? What are they are what is their half lives?
goddog
Got to laugh even when being irradiated. Borneo cracked me up.
goddog
Just watched this video. So sad. The govt. is so apathetic. They should have soaked the guy with the urine and had him take it back to tokyo that way. He did not care what happens to the kids or people of Fukushima.
Cricky
I agree with goddog shower that blank faced idiot in urine but he will not get it, that's the frustrating thing these people are so stupid.
smithinjapan
Spread this video, peeps. Put it on your facebook accounts and everywhere else you can: This is how much Fukushima cares: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVuGwc9dlhQ
nath
To the ones saying that Japan is taking too much time to take action I think it's the other way and we just need a little bit of perspective, in the US when the 3 Mile accident occurred, which involved a single reactor they took from March of 1979 to October of 1985 to shut down...6 YEARS The cleaning started in August of the same year (5 months after) and ended officially in 1993, a grand total of 24 years. It took 1 billion dollars
Now can we make a simple calculation? in Japan there are 4 reactors and with the amount of fuel that they had it has been said that it equals to 20 nuclear meltdowns, obviously any government would rather lie or release little info than spreading the panic... the radiation is already in spread in the whole planet and we will just see the consequences of it in 20 years, we should act today to stop what Einstein said "a helluva way to boil water" I would change it to the most dangerous way.
Lizz
I think the number in the article refers to what rose from 3.83 in June to about 10 in July and back down to 5. So much for pulling up weeds and burying dirt.
According to the following article, levels of 56.9 μSv/hr were recently measured at an elementary school in Fukushima City.
http://ex-skf.blogspot.com/2011/07/radiation-in-fukushima-city-order-of.html
On TBS Television "Sunday Morning News". Radiation survey by Doshisha University and Kyoto Seika University of Fukushima City [in Fukushima Prefecture].
U-drain at an elementary school 56.9 microsieverts/hour; Fukushima Prefectural Government building 20.8 microsieverts/hour, Fukushima Railroad Station 2.4 to 22.4 microsieverts/hour. "Hot spot" everywhere. The Doshisha researcher was surprised to see these numbers. Do Fukushima City residents know about this?
888naff
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVuGwc9dlhQ
typical calm and intelligent debate spread by obasan meeting
i'm so surprised
HumanTarget
The initial reading of 3.83 was taken in June. It is now almost August. The article may still be correct, but would indicate that the radiation levels spiked very rapidly. This would be in keeping with the article, which seems to suggest an evacuation was considered at first.
It pays to be a careful reader.
Honne
Uhm, check out what James over at Japan Probe is saying regarding this video.
http://www.japanprobe.com/2011/07/26/fukushima-residents-angrily-shout-at-mid-level-bureaucrat-demand-he-accept-bottled-urine/
Didn't bother leaving a response there since I'm done with his site. He was one of those who was constantly outspoken about the sensationalist foreign media coverage in the period immediately following the disaster and was also one of those downplaying the nuclear crisis as a result.
Look at this video rationally, sure. I have no problems with that. I also realized it was just a small part of the meeting as the rest of the clips it was taken from is linked in the description. But he seems to be missing the point regarding this heavily edited video and that is the way these government bureaucrats are acting. And spare me about the mid-level bureaucrat who don't have the authority. There is a proper way for even low and mid-level workers (does not need to be just civil servants) to respond and acting in this elusive manner sends all sorts of wrong signals no matter if this was just a small portion of the meeting. They can easily respond that while it is not their responsibility and do not have the authority, they will check and get back in touch with the local government and residents as soon as possible. What the hell is so difficult with that?
His previous article regarding the contaminated beef was even worse in downplaying the situation because no matter how much scientific data he cited in that post, this again is missing the point completely. It's about the government mishandling the situation and as a result, causing its citizens undue anxiety. I can see providing some leeway early on but we're going to be heading into the 5th and 6th months soon. Remember, there was a period of time when the politicians were in-fighting about Kan; a period of time they could have been working with local government officials to set guidelines and insure that this contaminated product would not even accidentally get into the supply chain.
And I'm expected to have any trust and confidence in the government after they've managed to screw the pooch with their inaction?