Disasters45 percent of children in Fukushima exposed to thyroid radiation
A survey revealed that 45 percent of children living near the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant have been exposed to thyroid radiation; following the nuclear disaster and the revelation that radiation was leaking from reactor no. 1, researchers tested more than 1,000 children from newborns to age fifteen in the Fukushima Prefecture; children were found to have been exposed to 0.04 microsievert per hour or less in most cases
The fingerprint of thyroid radiation exposure // Source: cancertreatment365.com
A survey revealed that 45 percent of children living near the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant have been exposed to thyroid radiation.
Following the nuclear disaster and the revelation that radiation was leaking from reactor no. 1, researchers tested more than 1,000 children from newborns to age fifteen in the Fukushima Prefecture.
Children were found to have been exposed to 0.04 microsievert per hour or less in most cases. The largest exposure was detected in a one year old who had been exposed to 0.1 microsievert per hour, which is the equivalent of a yearly dose of 50 millisieverts. None of the children who tested positive had been exposed to more than 0.2 microsievert per hour, the government’s minimum level which would result in more detailed examinations.
Surveys from survivors of the atomic bombs that were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki reveal that exposure to 100 milisievertsincreasesthe likelihood of developing a fatal cancer by 0.5 percent.
In other news, a recent survey of soil at four locations throughout Fukushima found that the soil had been contaminated with 16,000 to 46,000 becquerels per kilogram of radioactive cesium. These amounts exceed the legal limit of 10,000 becquerels per kilogram.
One sample taken from a gutter, a place where radioactive materials tend to gather, contained as much as 931,000 becquerels per square meter, far exceeding the 555,000 becquerels per square meter limit for compulsory resettlement in the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear accident. Tests from the other three locations found between 326,000 and 384,000 becquerels per square meter.
