Radiation from Japan Spreads to Food and Other Nations

Tainted Seafood Fears Spread as Japan Plant Leaks

March 30, 2011

AP - Fears about contaminated seafood spread Wednesday despite reassurances that radiation in the waters off Japan's troubled atomic plant pose no health risk, as the country's respected emperor consoled evacuees from the tsunami and nuclear emergency zone.

While experts say radioactive particles are unlikely to build up significantly in fish, the seafood concerns in the country that gave the world sushi are yet another blemish for Brand Japan. It has already been hit by contamination of milk, vegetables and water, plus shortages of auto and tech parts after a massive quake and tsunami disabled a coastal nuclear power plant.

Setbacks at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear complex mounted Wednesday, as the plant's operator, Tokyo Power Electric Co., announced that its president was hospitalized. Masataka Shimizu has not been seen since a news conference two days after the March 11 quake that spawned the destructive wave. His absence fueled speculation that he had suffered a breakdown.

Spokesman Naoki Tsunoda said Shimizu, 66, was admitted to a Tokyo hospital Tuesday after suffering dizziness and high blood pressure.

The problems at the nuclear plant have taken center stage, but the tsunami also created another disaster: Hundreds of thousands of people were forced from their homes after the wave drove miles (kilometers) inland, decimating whole towns. The official death toll stood at 11,362 late Wednesday, with the final toll likely surpassing 18,000.

Japan's respected Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko visited disaster evacuees at a center in Tokyo on Wednesday. The visit was marked by a formality that is typical of interactions with the royal couple, but survivors said they were encouraged.

"I couldn't talk with them very well because I was nervous, but I felt that they were really concerned about us," said Kenji Ukito, an evacuee from a region near the plant who has already moved four times since the quake. "I was very grateful."

The emperor and his wife make fairly frequent public appearances, visiting nursing homes and the disabled and attending ceremonies throughout the year. In particular, they are expected to mourn with those affected by natural disasters. Akihito made a similar visit to evacuees after the Kobe earthquake in 1995.

At the Fukushima plant, the fight to cool the reactors and stem their release of radiation has become more complicated in recent days since the discovery that radioactive water is pooling in the plant, restricting the areas in which crews can work. It also puts emergency crews in the uncomfortable position of having to pump in more water to continue cooling the reactor while simultaneously pumping out contaminated water.

That contamination has also begun to seep into the sea, and tests Wednesday showed that waters 300 yards (meters) outside the plant contained 3,355 times the legal limit for the amount of radioactive iodine.

It's the highest rate yet, but Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency official Hidehiko Nishiyama said it did not pose any threat to human health because the iodine rarely stays in fish. There is no fishing in the area because it is within the evacuation zone around the plant.

Radioactive iodine is short-lived, with a half-life of just eight days, and in any case was expected to dissipate quickly in the vast Pacific Ocean. It does not tend to accumulate in shellfish.

Other radioactive particles have been detected in the waters near the plant, and some have made their way into fish. Trace amounts of radioactive cesium-137 have been found in anchovies as far afield as Chiba, near Tokyo, but at less than 1 percent of acceptable levels.

"We have repeatedly told consumers that it is perfectly safe to eat fish," said Shoichi Takayama, an official with Japan's fishery agency.

Citing dilution in the ocean, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has played down the risks of seafood contamination.

But, as with other reports of radiation levels in food and tap water, fear has begun to override science. Several countries, including China, India and South Korea, have ordered special inspections for or outright bans on fish from areas near the plant.

Ren Cheng, a spokesman for Taiwan's Mitsui Food & Beverage Enterprise Group that operates several upscale Japanese restaurants in Taipei, said his company has seen a 50 percent drop in revenue since the crisis began.

"We are not importing any food products from Japan. All the Japanese ingredients we are using were all procured before the quake," he said. "We have put up signs in our restaurants to reassure costumers about the safety of our food."

Domestic consumption, however, is far more important to Japan, which imports far more seafood than it exports. According to the fisheries agency, the domestic catch typically totals around 5.5 million tons. Less than a million of that gets exported, while another nearly 3 million tons are imported.

In stores near Tokyo's famed Tsukiji fish market, fresh fish was selling poorly.

Instead, customers "are stockpiling" frozen fish, in the hopes it was caught before radiation began to climb, said Hideo Otsubo, who works at a seafood company near the market.

Tourism to Japan has fallen sharply since the disaster, and sushi chef Akira Ogimoto blamed that dropoff for a 30 to 40 percent decline in customers to his restaurant near the market, where the daily tuna auction is a big draw for foreigners.

Add on the radiation fears, and fishermen are worried their livelihoods will be threatened just when they need to rebuild their homes.

"I worry we won't be able to sell our seaweed. If the radiation ruins our fishing, we are lost," said Toshiaki Kikuchi, a 63-year-old innkeeper and seaweed farmer in Soma, a city near the troubled plant.

The International Atomic Energy Agency, meanwhile, reported Wednesday it found radiation in a village outside the evacuation zone at levels that are twice where it would recommend evacuations. Officials emphasized the reading was found in only one spot in Iitate village, about 25 miles (40 kilometers) from the plant, and did not say they were recommending an evacuation. The exclusion zone has a radius of 12 miles (20 kilometers).

About 10 days ago, radiation in the village's tap water spiked, though they remained well below levels that would pose an immediate health risk. The latest reading came between March 18 and March 26, when a series of samples were taken from a wide area, according to a report on the agency's website. Both iodine-131 and cesium-137 were found in the samples.

Richard Morin, a medical physicist with the American College of Radiation, said the agency's evacuation limits are "intended to be extremely conservative," and that none of the levels found would pose a risk to human health. They all fell well below the radiation contained in a heart scan.

The crisis has been marked by such confusion, much of it due to TEPCO's bungling response, which has been severely criticized by the government and the press. The first few days after the quake saw fires and explosions, and the company — whose shares have plunged nearly 80 percent — has frequently retracted or corrected information.

There has also been criticism that safeguards were lax at the Fukushima plant. The nuclear agency ordered plant operators nationwide on Wednesday to review their emergency procedures. The agency told utilities they must have on hand mobile backup generators and fire engines, which have been used at Fukushima to cool the reactors.

The missteps at TEPCO have sparked calls from the opposition for its nationalization, and the Yominuri Shimbun newspaper, citing anonymous sources, said the government was considering it. But Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano has denied those reports.

Low Levels of Radiation Found in U.S. Milk

March 30, 2011

AP - Very low levels of radiation turned up in a sample of milk from Washington state, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Food and Drug Administration said Wednesday, but federal officials assured consumers not to worry.

The FDA said such findings were to be expected in the coming days because of the nuclear crisis in Japan, and that the levels were expected to drop relatively quickly.

Japan's Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power complex began leaking radiation after it was damaged by a devastating earthquake and tsunami earlier this month.

Results from a March 25 milk sample taken from Spokane, Wash., showed levels of radioactive Iodine-131 that were still 5,000 times below levels of concern set by the FDA, including levels set for infants and children.

"Radiation is all around us in our daily lives, and these findings are a miniscule amount compared to what people experience every day," said Patricia Hansen, senior scientist.at the FDA. "A person would be exposed to low levels of radiation on a round-trip cross-country flight, watching television, and even from construction materials."

EPA said it was increasing the level of nationwide monitoring of milk, precipitation and drinking water.

Spokane, a city of 208,000 residents, is located more than 300 miles east of the Pacific coast. Kim Papich, spokeswoman for the Spokane Regional Health District, said the agency was aware of the EPA report and preparing to issue a statement to residents.

"This is not a major health concern," Papich said.

The United States had already halted imports of dairy products and produce from the affected area of Japan. Other foods imported from Japan, including seafood, were still being sold to the public but screened first for radiation.

Japanese foods make up less than 4 percent of all U.S. imports. The FDA has said it expected no risk to the U.S. food supply from radiation.

Radiation from Japan Reaches Europe

March 30, 2011

EUOBSERVER - Small amounts of radiation thought to come from Japan's crisis-stricken Fukushima nuclear power plant have been detected across Europe.

On Tuesday (29 March), Britain's Health Protection Agency (HPA) said "the minutest" levels of radioactive iodine had been detected at its air monitoring stations in Oxfordshire and Glasgow over the past nine days.

It stressed however that the levels were too low to cause any risk to human health, peaking at 300 micro-becquerels per cubic metre but averaging a much lower 11 micro-becquerels over the nine-day period.

"Levels may rise in the coming days and weeks but they will be significantly below any level that could cause harm to public health," the HPA said in a statement.

Similar amounts of radioactive material have been detected in Germany and Switzerland, as workers in Japan continue their struggle to prevent radioactive water from seeping into the sea.

It emerged on Tuesday that seawater near the damaged Fukushima nuclear reactors is more contaminated that previously reported, with water near reactor 1 containing radioactive iodine at 3,355 times the legal limit, according to Japan's nuclear safety agency.

Iodine 131's relatively short half-life of eight days, the time it takes to halve the radiation through natural decay, reduces the likelihood of risk to humans said an official.

"Even considering its concentration in marine life, it will have deteriorated considerably by the time it reaches people," Hidehiko Nishiyama, deputy director-general of Japan's nuclear safety agency said.

In the Ukraine, Iodine 131 was blamed for the high occurrence of thyroid cancer among children exposed to radioactivity after the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster.

Japanese officials are also fighting to prevent more dangerous radioactive liquid seeping into the sea, after small amounts of plutonium were detected in soil at the plant.

Shipping companies are currently working on contingency plans to prevent boats passing near Japan from carrying contaminated materials across the globe.

The 'MOL Presence' was turned away from a Chinese port this week after Geiger counters detected higher-than-normal radiation levels, reports Financial Times Deutschland. Earlier it had passed within 120 miles of Japan's Fukushima plant.

As the global fallout continues to spread, EU leaders meeting in Brussels last week asked the European Commission and the European Nuclear Safety Regulatory Group (Ensreg) to develop the scope and criteria of safety tests to be conducted on European nuclear power plants.

EU energy commissioner Gunther Oettinger earlier this month suggested the tests were likely to look at the risks posed by earthquakes, tsunamis, terrorist attacks and electricity power cuts, among other variables.

It now appears however that France is unwilling to include the risk from terrorist attacks or planes crashing into nuclear power plants.

"If they are included then this can't be called 'lessons learned from Japan,'" Andre-Claude Lacoste, head of the Autorite de Surete Nucleaire, said on Monday. "I will do what I can to keep risks from planes and terrorism out of the audits."

French President Nicolas Sarkozy is set to become the first leader to visit Japan on Thursday since the country experienced a 9.0-magnitude earthquake on 11 March.