Experts warn the need to evacuate Tokyo can no longer be ignored after radioactive hotspots higher than Chernobyl evacuation limits have been discovered across the city.
Radiation soil tests from 150 sites in the Tokyo metropolitan area finds Cesium radiation up to levels limits nearly twice the Chernobyl dead zone evacuation limit of 500,000 Bq/Sq meter.
An anonymous tip pointed me over to the Radiation Defense Project which has ran radiation tests on 150 soil samples.
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Reviewing the map of the radiation tests shows that radiation is being detected in the soil across the Tokyo metropolitan area.
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Such reports have been altogether ignored by the corporate/ M$M media, who have instead chose to believe tests published by the government of Japan and TEPCO, who have repeatedly lied over and over again throughout the Fukushima crisis. But even the officials government tests, which read radiation levels in the air – instead of on the actual ground were people walk – showed hotspots spanning across Japan.
The latest joint US and Japan survey shows extremely high levels of nuclear radioactive contamination, with radiation levels higher than Chernobyl evacuation limits, now span over 800 kilometers in Japan.
Meanwhile US Media outlets continue to ignore the situation and run stories that the situation is under control.
Asashi News Reports:
Radiation-contaminated area spans 800 square km, new map shows
By Hisae Sato and Fumikazu Asai
12 May 2011
The total area contaminated with radiation from the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant is estimated at about 800 square kilometers, or about 40 percent the size of Tokyo, according to a radiation map created by the science ministry and U.S. Department of Energy.
The report uses the same level of contamination (555,000 becquerels or higher of cesium-137) that was used to issue compulsory evacuation orders in the Chernobyl nuclear accident in 1986. …
The report’s radiation levels were determined in April by measuring, from about 150-700 meters above ground, levels of accumulated radiation on the ground. The areas measured were divided into 1- to 2-square-kilometer zones.
According to the map, about 800 square kilometers are contaminated with accumulated cesium-137 of 600,000 becquerels or higher per square meter. The substance has a half-life of about 30 years.
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Source Asahi
The article above references data take from the a joint aerial survey conducted by Japan and the US Department of Energy. Here are the maps from the report.
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Finally, the brutal reality of the situation on the ground in Japan has showed up on the radar of a corporate news source, Al Jazeera.
In the video below, Al Jazeera reports on the worsening nightmare at Japan’s Fukushima nuclear power plant. A little more than 30 seconds into the video the shocking news is delivered that officials can no longer ignore the need to evacuation Tokyo.
Transcripts of the opening minute or so, of the video.
Narrator [Steve Chao]: In neighborhoods around Tokyo volunteers for months now have digging for answers, looking to uncover clues into how much radiation has made its way into the nation’s capital.
Narrator: Investigative Journalist Kouta Konashita has been a focal point of the efforts. He says the test results from soil samples analyzed in professional labs show dangerous hotspots throughout the city.
Konashita: There are many areas with high levels of radioactive substances. The levels there are the same as in parts around Chernobyl where people had to evacuate.
Narrator: The need to evacuate parts of the sprawling capital of 35 million may have once seemed an incredible prospect but some experts say the possibility can no longer be ignored.
Narrator: And mothers like Ayoiy Enama [sic] are just one of hundreds who believe their children are already suffering the effects.
Narrator: 10 year old Kana [sic] has had severe joint pain in the arms and legs, deep rings under her eyes, and extreme tiredness to the point that she sleeps for hours during the day. All symptons of radiation sickness say nuclear safety experts.
At least one billion becquerels a day of radiation continue to leak from Japan’s Fukushima nuclear plant after the March earthquake and tsunami.
Experts say that the total amount of radiation leaked will exceed amounts released from Chernobyl, making Fukushima the worst nuclear disaster in history.
Al Jazeera’s Steve Chao reports from the Japanese capital of Tokyo.