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Worry in Tokyo over radiation in water
UNPALATABLE:Concerns grew yesterday after officials said
tap water in the Japanese capital showed levels more than twice the recommended
limit for infants
AP, TOKYO
Shoko Igarashi hugs her dog yesterday. The
animal will have to be looked after by friends while Igarashi lives in a shelter
in Koriyama in Fukushima Prefecture, 60km west of Japan¡¦s Fukushima nuclear
power plant.
Photo: AFP
A spike in radiation levels in Tokyo tap water spurred new fears about food
safety yesterday as rising black smoke forced another evacuation of workers
trying to stabilize Japan¡¦s radiation-leaking nuclear plant.
Radiation has seeped into vegetables, raw milk, the water supply and seawater
since a huge quake and tsunami crippled the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power
plant nearly two weeks ago. Broccoli was added to a list of tainted vegetables,
and US officials announced a block on Japanese dairy and other produce from the
region.
The crisis is emerging as the world¡¦s most expensive natural disaster on record,
likely to cost up to US$309 billion, according to a new government estimate. The
death toll continued to rise, with more than 9,400 bodies counted and more than
14,700 people listed as missing.
Concerns about food safety spread yesterday to Tokyo after officials said tap
water showed elevated levels of radiation: 210 becquerels per liter of
iodine-131 ¡X more than twice the recommended limit of 100 becquerels per liter
for infants. The recommended limit for adults is 300 becquerels.
Infants are particularly vulnerable to radioactive iodine, which can cause
thyroid cancer, experts say. The limits refer to sustained consumption rates,
and officials urged calm, saying parents should stop giving tap water to babies,
but added that it was no worry if the infants already had consumed small
amounts.
They said the levels posed no immediate health risk for older children or
adults.
¡§Even if you drink this water for one year, it will not affect people¡¦s health,¡¨
Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said.
Tokyo residents shouldn¡¦t worry, said Dr Lim Sang-moo, director of nuclear
medicine at the Korea Cancer Center Hospital in Seoul.
¡§Nobody wants to drink radioactive water,¡¨ he said. However, ¡§it¡¦s not a medical
problem, but a psychosocial problem: The stress that people get from the
radioactivity is more dangerous than the radioactivity itself.¡¨
The latest reported food data showed sharp increases in radioactivity levels in
a range of vegetables. In an area about 40km northwest of the plant, levels for
one locally grown leafy green called kukitachina measured 82 times the
government¡¦s limit for radioactive cesium and 11 times the limit for iodine.
The unsettling new development affecting Tokyo came as officials struggled to
stabilize the hobbled reactor 220km to the north.
The plant operator had restored circuitry to bring power to all six reactor
units and turned on lights at reactor three late on Tuesday for the first time
since the disaster ¡X a significant step toward restarting the cooling system.
It had hoped to restore power to cooling pumps at the reactor within days, but
experts warned the work included the risk of sparking fires as electricity is
restored through equipment potentially damaged in the tsunami.
In a new setback, black smoke billowed from Unit 3 yesterday, prompting another
evacuation of workers from the plant in the afternoon, Tokyo Electric officials
said. They added that there had been no corresponding spike in radiation at the
plant.
¡§We don¡¦t know the reason¡¨ for the smoke, said Hidehiko Nishiyama of the Nuclear
and Industrial Safety Agency.
Late yesterday, nuclear agency official Kenji Kawasaki said workers would not be
allowed to return to the plant until this morning, as it was too difficult to
tell at night whether all the smoke had cleared.
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