Expert: Radioactive materials reached Kantovia 2 routes
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Next ArticleReporter hot on the trail of a radioactive vehicleOctober 24, 2011
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Radioactive materials from the damaged Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant reached the Kanto regionmainly via two routes, but they largely skirted the heavily populated areas of Tokyo and KanagawaPrefecture, an expert said.Relatively high levels of radioactive cesium were detected in soil in northern Gunma and Tochigi prefectures and southern Ibaraki Prefecture after the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant wasdamaged by the March 11 Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami. But contamination was limitedin Tokyo and Kanagawa Prefecture, where 22 million people live.Hiromi Yamazawa, a professor of environmental radiology at Nagoya University, said the firstradioactive plume moved through Ibaraki Prefecture and turned northward to Gunma Prefecture between late March 14 and the afternoon of March 15.Large amounts of radioactive materials were released during that period partly because the core of the No. 2 reactor at the Fukushima No. 1 plant was exposed."The soil was likely contaminated after the plume fell to the ground with rain or snow," Yamazawasaid, adding that western Saitama Prefecture and western Tokyo may have been also contaminated.Rain fell in Fukushima, Tochigi and Gunma prefectures from the night of March 15 to the earlymorning of March 16, according to the Meteorological Agency.The second plume moved off Ibaraki Prefecture and passed through Chiba Prefecture between thenight of March 21 and the early morning of March 22, when rain fell in a wide area of the Kantoregion, according to Yamazawa's estimates.He said the plume may have created radiation hot spots in coastal and southern areas of IbarakiPrefecture as well as around Kashiwa, Chiba Prefecture.Yamazawa said the plume continued to move southward, without approaching Tokyo or KanagawaPrefecture, probably because winds flowed toward a low-pressure system south of the BosoPeninsula."It rained slightly because the low-pressure system was not strong," said Takehiko Mikami, a professor of climatology at Teikyo University. "Contamination in central Tokyo might have beenmore serious if (the plume) had approached more inland areas."According to calculations by The Asahi Shimbun, about 13,000 square kilometers, or about 3 percent of Japan's land area, including about 8,000 square kilometers in Fukushima Prefecture, haveannual exposure levels of 1 millisievert or more.Gunma and Tochigi prefectures have a combined 3,800 square kilometers with an annual exposure
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News Oct 24 Part 2 Radiation Reached Kanto Area via 2 Routes
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