The government will expand airborne radiation measurements to cover all regions of eastern Japan to provide a more precise picture of "hot spots" of elevated radiation levels far from the crippled nuclear plant.
The government will expand airborne radiation measurements to cover all regions of eastern Japan to provide a more precise picture of "hot spots" of elevated radiation levels far from the crippled nuclear plant.
The results will be released on a dedicated website that will open in mid-August.
The measurements will be expanded to 22 prefectures, ranging from Aomori in the north to Aichi and Fukui in the west, probably by the end of this year.
The radiation hot spots have heightened people's anxieties in many areas outside Fukushima Prefecture, where the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant is located.
Measurements of current radiation levels are intended to respond to people's fears, including those concerning radioactive contamination in rice straw fed to farm animals as well as humus products.
The expanded airborne measurement plan was included in a "comprehensive monitoring program" of the nuclear accident adopted on Aug. 2.
The decision was made at a coordination meeting that intends to integrate the monitoring activities carried out by different ministries and agencies.
Goshi Hosono, state minister in charge of handling the crisis at the Fukushima No. 1 plant, was a chairman at the meeting.
The government will start to release maps as early as in mid-August that show detailed radiation levels within the "emergency evacuation preparation zones" near the Fukushima plant. Those areas mostly lie within 30 kilometers of the plant but outside the 20-km radius of the no-entry zone.
The results will be used to help make decisions on lifting designations of the zones and when residents can return home.
The maps will appear on a website of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology that will be titled "information on radiation monitoring."
Officials from the science ministry, the health ministry, the agriculture ministry, the Environment Ministry, the Nuclear Safety Commission of Japan, the Fukushima prefectural government and plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. took part in the coordination meeting.