Meat contamination

Radioactive cesium found in straw fed to cattle in Fukushima

FUKUSHIMA (Kyodo) — High levels of radioactive cesium were detected in straw fed to cattle at a farm in Minamisoma, Fukushima Prefecture, local officials said Monday, fueling suspicion it was the source of the radioactive contamination found in the meat of cows shipped from there.

The straw, saturated with an average of 75,000 becquerels of radioactive cesium per kilogram, around 56 times the allowable limit, was stored in an unroofed area of the farm when a series of explosions occurred at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant after it was crippled by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, according to prefectural officials.

The farm, located in one of the high-risk areas, gave a total of 1.5 kg of the straw to one cow per day on average from early April, they said. The farm had kept the straw outdoors since cutting its paddy last fall.

On March 19 the central government instructed farmers in areas around the damaged Fukushima power plant not to give livestock feed that had been stored outdoors.

But the farm went against the instruction as it was not able to procure feed blend due to disruption of its supply system following the March disaster, the officials said.

The prefectural government began inspecting animal feed Monday at about 260 farms outside the 20-kilometer exclusion zone around the crippled Fukushima plant but within designated high-risk areas, the officials said. The local government will eventually widen the inspection area to all farms in the prefecture, they added.

The Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Ministry said Monday it will strengthen its monitoring of cattle meat in Fukushima and the nearby prefectures of Miyagi, Yamagata, Ibaraki, Tochigi, Gunma and Niigata.

Senior vice health minister Kohei Otsuka said during a television program that if necessary, the government would begin testing the meat of all cows shipped from farms in areas surrounding the power plant to ensure it is safe to eat.

Last week, meat containing levels of cesium three to six times higher than the Japanese government-set safety limit of 500 becquerels per kg was found in 11 cows shipped from the farm located in Minamisoma, 20 to 30 km north of the disaster-struck nuclear power plant.

The highest level was 3,200 becquerels but none of the meat from the 11 contaminated cows reached retailers.

However, separately from the 11 cows, the same farm had shipped five cows to Tokyo and one to Tochigi Prefecture in May and June, all of which were fed with the contaminated straw.

The Tokyo metropolitan government said Monday the processed meat of the six cows was distributed to Shizuoka, Osaka, Tokyo, Kanagawa and Ehime prefectures.

Osaka prefectural government officials said meat processed from two of the six cows was shipped from Tokyo to a meat wholesaler in the western Japan prefecture and distributed to four places, including another meat dealer in the prefecture. The meat from one cow was still in stock but some from the other cow had already been sold.

In Shizuoka Prefecture, where some of the meat processed from another of the six cows was distributed, the local government said 1,998 becquerels of radioactive cesium per kilogram was detected in processed meat found at a restaurant in the city of Shizuoka.

Kyodo, July 12, 2011
http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20110712p2g00m0dm001000c.html

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Cesium-Tainted Beef from Fukushima Already Consumed

Tokyo, July 12 (Jiji Press)—Radioactive cesium-tainted beef shipped from a farm near the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant has been consumed in Hokkaido and other prefectures, it was learned Tuesday.

Levels of radioactive cesium higher than the legal limit of 500 becquerels per kilogram have been detected in the meat of three of six cows shipped from the farm in Minamisoma in the northeastern Japan prefecture of Fukushima.

The contaminated meat was distributed by a Tokyo meat wholesaler to outlets throughout the country, and some of the meat has been served in restaurants in Hokkaido, northern Japan, and the central Japan prefecture of Aichi.

The meat has also been sold at supermarkets in the southwestern Japan prefectures of Tokushima and Kochi.

No health problems have been reported so far.

Jiji Press, July 12, 2011
http://jen.jiji.com/jc/eng?g=eco&k=2011071200650

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Fukushima government inspects farm over beef radiation fears

The Fukushima prefectural government inspected a farm Sunday to check
whether its management of feed and water for cows is sufficient in
response to the detection of excessive levels of radioactive cesium in
the meat of 11 cows shipped from it.

The farm is located in the city of Minamisoma, which lies on the
outskirts of the crisis-hit Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in the
prefecture. The plant has been releasing radioactive materials since it
was crippled by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami that hit eastern and
northeastern Japan.

According to the prefectural government, the farm fed the cows with a
livestock feed blend made outside the prefecture, while the water was
from a well.

The Tokyo metropolitan government said Saturday that high levels of
radioactive cesium had been detected in meat from 10 cows shipped to a
meat packing plant in Tokyo from Minamisoma, a day after it announced
that a similarly excessive level had been found in the meat from one of
11 cows shipped to the capital from the northeastern Japan city.

The Fukushima prefectural government asked Minamisoma on Saturday to
voluntarily refrain from shipping beef cows from all areas of the city.

The meat from all 11 cows, shipped from the same farm, contained
radioactive cesium three to six times higher than the provisional
ceiling of 500 becquerels per kg, with the highest level at 3,200
becquerels, according to the Tokyo government.

No radioactive substances, however, were detected on the body surfaces
of the cows at the time of shipment, the prefectural government said.

In addition to the 11 cows, a total of six cows from the farm in
Minamisoma were shipped to meat-processing plants in Tokyo and Tochigi
Prefecture in May and June, according to related local governments.

Although meat from the 11 cows has not been distributed, meat from the
six cows Å\ five shipped to Tokyo and one to Tochigi Å\ has been processed
and may have reached the market, prompting local authorities to check
where the meat was distributed.

Kyodo, July 11, 2011
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20110711a3.html

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 Wife to seek work accident compensation over Fukushima plant worker’s death

The wife of a man who died from a heart attack while working at the crippled Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant plans to seek recognition of his death as a workplace accident, it has been learned.

The 60-year-old worker, Nobukatsu Osumi, a plumber from the Shizuoka Prefecture city of Omaezaki, died on May 14, after being dispatched to the nuclear power plant from a company cooperating with Toshiba Corp. to help bring the nuclear crisis under control.

Osumi’s 53-year-old wife, a Thai national, plans to file to have his death recognized as a workplace accident eligible for compensation at the Yokohama Minami Labor Standards Inspection Office, which deals with Toshiba’s workplace accident insurance, as early as this week.

Toshiba and other sources said that Osumi had experience working at the Hamaoka and Shimane nuclear power plants in the past. From Toshiba’s perspective he was a temporary employee for a construction company designated as a fourth-level subcontractor.

In a shift between 6 and 9 a.m. from May 13, Osumi was involved in work that included laying pipes for a facility to treat waste at the plant. At about 6:50 a.m. the following day, while he was carrying a special saw, he complained that he felt unwell. He was eventually taken to a hospital in the Fukushima Prefecture city of Iwaki, but shortly after 9:30 a.m. he was confirmed dead as the result of a heart attack.

During the course of his work at the plant he received only a small radiation dosage of 0.68 millisieverts, and it was judged his health was not affected by exposure to radiation. However, it was pointed out that there were deficiencies in the emergency care system for workers, as it took more than two hours for Osumi to reach hospital from the time that he complained of feeling ill. Since Osumi’s death, Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO), the nuclear power plant’s operator, has placed a doctor on standby for workers.

Neither Toshiba nor TEPCO have paid consolatory money or other compensation to Osumi’s wife. Her lawyer has criticized their treatment as “cold.”

“Mr. Osumi was working in a harsh environment wearing a mask and protective clothing. Their treatment of this worker, who was putting his life on the line in his work, is too cold.”

A TEPCO representative said the company did not believe there was a strong connection between the work and Osumi’s death. Toshiba’s public relations office, meanwhile, commented, “The relationship between the work and the heart attack is unclear, and at this stage we cannot judge whether or not it was a workplace accident.”

Noboru Yanagisawa, an emeritus professor in labor law at Yamaguchi University, said that workplace accident compensation should be granted to Osumi’s case.

“With workplace accidents, problems emerge over the acknowledgement of whether psychological and mental ailments occurred in the course of the person’s work or not, but work environments that grossly lack life-saving measures are also taken into consideration. It is difficult to determine whether the heart attack occurred due to the work this time, but it is clear that there were delays in life-saving measures, and this case should be recognized as a workplace accident.”

Mainichi Shimbun , July 12, 2011
http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/national/news/20110712p2a00m0na008000c.html

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Directive may be relaxed on evacuation preparedness

FUKUSHIMA – The government will consider lifting a directive that requires residents in some districts of Fukushima Prefecture to be prepared to evacuate or remain indoors if the situation at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant worsens, Goshi Hosono, state minister in charge of the nuclear crisis, said Saturday.

Hosono told reporters after meeting with Fukushima Gov. Yuhei Sato at the prefectural government office that the lifting of the directive will be considered when “Step 1,” or the initial step to bring the plant under control, is completed July 17.

“I hope that schools and hospitals will be reopened at an early date, and I want people who have moved out of the areas to return,” Hosono said, adding he told Sato that he plans to consult with the local authorities concerned about lifting the directive.

It is the first time that Hosono has visited Fukushima since becoming minister in charge of handling the crisis in late June.

In April, about 67,000 residents in a zone 20-30 km from the radiation-leaking nuclear plant became subject to the directive, including the town of Hirono and some districts in Naraha, Kawauchi, Tamura and Minamisoma.

Kyodo, July 3, 2011
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20110703a1.html

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Research team invents glowing, radiation-detecting plastic

Japanese researchers have developed a plastic that glows an eerie blue when exposed to radiation that could find its way into future portable dosimeters.

Invented by a research team from Kyoto University, the National Institute of Radiological Sciences and Teijin Chemicals Ltd. led by Kyoto University nuclear laboratory assistant professor Hidehito Nakamura, the new plastic is cheap, easy to manufacture and could be put into mass production. The researchers are aiming to have the plastic on the market by the autumn.

“Because of the Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant disaster, it’s become necessary for people to keep a dosimeter close at hand,” Nakamura says. “I’d like to see this plastic put to use in portable radiation detectors that could just be hung from mobile phone straps.”

Current radiation detectors emit visible light when hit with radiation. There are some detectors that already use plastic, but they require a highly specialized manufacturing process to make, pushing per unit production costs into the tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of yen.

The new mass-production ready material, by comparison, will likely cost less than one-tenth that. On top of being cheaper, the plastic is also better at detection, as it responds to alpha, beta and gamma radiation. The research team says that the plastic could also be used in “whole body counters,” radiation detectors for measuring internal radiation exposure.

Nakamura discovered last year that regular PET bottles could detect ultraviolet rays when hit with radiation. He confirmed that the effect was related to the sensitivity of oxygen in the plastic to radiation. Nakamura created increasingly sensitive plastics, finally arriving at the glowing material.

The research team’s discovery was published in the June 29 digital issue of Europhysics News, a publication of the European Physical Society.

Mainichi Shimbun , June 29, 2011
http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/national/archive/news/2011/06/29/20110629p2a00m0na008000c.html

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Trace amounts of radioactive materials found in Fukushima kids’ urine

TOKYO (Kyodo) — Trace amounts of radioactive substances were found in urine samples of all of 10 surveyed children from Fukushima Prefecture in May, where a crippled nuclear power plant is located, a local citizens group and a French nongovernmental organization said Thursday.

David Boilley, president of the Acro radioactivity measuring body, said at a press conference in Tokyo that the results of the survey on 10 boys and girls in Fukushima City aged between 6 and 16 suggest there is a high possibility that children in and near the city have been exposed to radiation internally.

The citizens group, the Fukushima Network for Saving Children from Radiation, comprising parents in the prefecture, said the finding is “certainly” due to the nuclear crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant crippled by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami.

The group added it will urge the central and local governments to have all citizens in the prefecture undergo detailed tests soon using whole body counters.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said later in the day at a press conference, “The government is concerned” about the finding. He added the government wants to obtain detailed results of the survey so they can be thoroughly examined.

Edano said the government also intends to accelerate work to analyze similar surveys conducted by itself and Fukushima prefectural authorities.

According to the urine test, 1.13 becquerels of radioactive cesium-134 per 1 liter of urine, the largest amount for the isotope among the 10 surveyed children, was found from an 8-year-old girl, while the largest amount of cesium-137 at 1.30 becquerels was found in a 7-year-old boy.

Acro also investigated radiation exposure of children who resided near the site of 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster.

Kyodo, June 30, 2011
http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20110630p2g00m0dm106000c.html

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113 families advised to evacuate as ’hot spots’ from nuclear crisis

TOKYO (Kyodo) — The government said Thursday it has designated 113 families in 106 households in four locations in Date, Fukushima Prefecture, as “hot spots” for recommended evacuation in the wake of the local nuclear plant crisis.

The first designation of hot spots, where radiation levels are sporadically higher than other locations nearby, has been conveyed to the Date city office, which will notify the 113 families of the evacuation advice on Friday, the government said.

A hot spot consists of a household where an annual level of radiation is estimated to top 20 millisieverts and neighboring houses. The government will support those who wish to evacuate from the hot spots, especially urging children and pregnant women to leave.

The government continues monitoring radiation levels in candidate locations for hot spots in Minamisoma, also in Fukushima.

As radioactive substances do not evenly spread as a result of weather and geographical conditions, radiation levels are higher in certain locations than those nearby.

Kyodo, July 1, 2011
http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20110701p2g00m0dm013000c.html

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