Abstract
Immediately after the accidents in the nuclear power stations in Fukushima on March 11, the Japanese Government ordered the evacuation of the residents within a 20-km radius from the station on March 12, and asked various institutions to monitor the contamination levels of the residents. Hirosaki University, which is located 355 km north of Fukushima City, decided to send support staff to Fukushima. This report summarizes the results of the exposure of 13 individual teams from March 15 to June 20. The support teams surveyed more than 5,000 people during this period. Almost all subjects had external contamination levels of less than 13 kcpm on Geiger-Müller (GM) survey meter, which is categorized as “no contamination level.” The 1st team showed the highest external exposure dose, but the 4th team onward showed no significant change. Subsequently, the internal radiation exposure was measured using a whole body counter that indicated undetectable levels in all staff members. Although the measured external radiation exposure dose cannot have serious biological effects on the health of an individual, a follow-up study of the residents in Fukushima and other regions where the radioactive material has spread will be required for a long time.
Highlights
On March 11, an earthquake measuring 9.0 on the Richter scale and a subsequent tsunami caused extensive damage to the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Station operated by the Tokyo Electric Power Company
On March 12, the Japanese Government ordered the evacuation of the residents who lived in an area within 20 km from the nuclear power station
The contributions of Te-132, I131, Cs-137, Cs-134, and I-132 show increased values when approaching the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Station from Osaki, Miyagi Pref.; the contributions of the aforementioned isotopes are hardly detected in Hirosaki city (Table 1)
Summary
On March 11, an earthquake measuring 9.0 on the Richter scale and a subsequent tsunami caused extensive damage to the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Station operated by the Tokyo Electric Power Company. Hirosaki University, just after the first phreatic explosion, sent many of its staff members to the safe shelters that were set temporarily for the residents of the area around the nuclear power station, to support the radiation survey and monitor the contamination of the safe shelters. The dose rate in air was measured during the trip from Hirosaki City to Fukushima City.
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