Daily radiation readings from Fukushima Prefecture

[Art_from_Ark]

The following website provides radiation measurements from Fukushima Prefecture that are taken twice a day-- once at either 9:00 or 10:00 a.m., and again at 5:00 p.m., and are updated accordingly. Measurements are taken by the Disaster Management Office of Fukushima Prefecture, and by the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology.

http://www.nhk.or.jp/fukushima/wind/index2.html

The municipalities listed in the table at the bottom of the page are as follows:

福島市　Fukushima City
郡山市　Koriyama City
白河市　Shirakawa City
会津若松市　Aizuwakamatsu City
南会津町　Minami Aizu Town
南相馬市　Minami Soma City
いわき市　Iwaki City
玉川村　Tamakawa Village
飯舘村　Iidate Village
田村市船引　Tamura City-- Funehiki
田村市常葉　Tamura City-- Tokiwa
二本松市　Nihonmatsu City
伊達市　Date City
本宮市　Motomiya City

The numerical values to the right of the city names represent: 1) normal radiation level, 2) current radiation level, 3) distance from the reactors. Note that all of the measuring points are outside of the 20km exclusion zone.

[TheMadMonk]

1. Almost exactly what you'd get in Denver or any other high altitude site.

About what you'd get living on granite instead of sandstone/loam.
About what everyone gets from their concrete floor slab.

Higher than the local norm yes. But NOT high enough to be called at all abnormal.

[Art_from_Ark]

2. I'll agree that many of the data are encouraging

For example, I was surprised to see that the values for Iwaki City, just south of the 30km recommended evacuation zone, are not much higher than the normal values for where I live, less than 100 miles south of there.

However, at the same time, I would like to see measurements from inside the 20km exclusion zone, as well as measurements from many other municipalities outside of the zone. Also, with the exception of Tamura City, all the values are for one only point in each city. As I described in an earlier OP in this forum, detailed measurements taken in Fukushima City alone, at nearly 3000 measuring points, show great variance in values, with 28% of the values measured last March exceeding 1 microsievert per hour. That is far higher than the 0.04 ?Sv/h that is considered normal for the city.

In addition, even in areas of Fukushima where residents have remained throughout this ordeal, there are places where children are not allowed to enter because the radiation levels are still considered to be too high.

Finally, some residents of forcibly evacuated areas are now being allowed to come and go to and from their homes without special permission, but they are still not being allowed to reside permanently in them.

[TheMadMonk]

3. And the worst of those figures is less than 40% the EPA permissible exposure...

...which in turn is 100th the dose which can be statistically linked to increased cancer risk. That's assuming continuous exposure over a full year or more.

The limits on children and permanent residency aren't really there to keep the public safe. They could be set considerably higher and still maintain a decent safety margin.

I suspect the major reason that limits are set as low as they are, is to make personal injury lawsuits, effectively unwinable. Victims will get the usual government short measure for their material losses, but nothing beyond normal healthcare coverage for cancers 10, 20, 50 years down the track.