The level of cesium fallout in Fukushima Prefecture in the four months after the March 11 disaster at the nuclear power plant there has been assessed at 6.83 million becquerels per square meter.
The level of cesium fallout in Fukushima Prefecture in the four months after the March 11 disaster at the nuclear power plant there has been assessed at 6.83 million becquerels per square meter.The science ministry announced its finding Dec. 14.It released similar data for 45 prefectures last month, but not on Fukushima and Miyagi prefectures. Fukushima’s concentration of radioactive material is 168 times the 40,801 becquerels recorded by Ibaraki Prefecture, which had the highest level among the 45 prefectures. Fukushima’s 6.83 million figure is 47 times the 144,446 becquerels recorded for all the 45 prefectures.The figures of accumulated radioactive substances for the March-June period were calculated on the basis of cesium-134 and cesium-137 measurements in dust gathering in containers at health research institutes and other facilities in different locations.The assessment project for Fukushima Prefecture had been hindered by the Great East Japan Earthquake. The measurement site for the prefecture is Okuma, where the Fukushima plant is located. Ninety-four percent of the 6,836,050 becquerels was concentrated in March, an indication of the severity of radiation spreading shortly after the onset of the accident.