A limited amount of plutonium has been detected in soil outside Japan's troubled Fukushima nuclear power plant which was crippled by the March 11 quake-tsunami disaster, the government said Friday.
A limited amount of plutonium has been detected in soil outside
Japan
's
troubled
Fukushima
nuclear power plant which was crippled by the March 11 quake-tsunami disaster,
the government said Friday.
It was the first time plutonium had been found in government tests outside the
plant, presumably due to the nuclear accident, the worst since 1986
Chernobyl
, the
education and science ministry said in a statement.
Plutonium was detected in soil at six places in a survey which was conducted in
June in an area within 80 kilometers (50 miles) from the Fukushima Daiichi
plant, the ministry said.
Nuclear reactors at the plant suffered meltdowns after cooling systems there
were knocked out by the double disasters. Plutonium has been already detected
in the plant's compound, some 220 kilometers from
Tokyo
.
The highest density of plutonium-239 and 240 -- 4.0 becquerels per square meter
-- was registered in a town some 30 kilometers from the plant, the ministry
said.
In a village 45 kilometers away, the reading was 0.82 becquerels per square
meter.
Plutonim has previously been detected in
Japan
following atmospheric nuclear tests, the ministry said.
The average density of plutonium, which was detected in soil samples between
1999 and 2008 in
Japan
, was
0.498 becquerels, the ministry said. The highest reading before the
Fukushima
accident was 8.0 becquerels.
"The plutonium density, which was detected this time, was within the range
of past readings. So the dose of radiation is deemed very small," the
ministry said.
Plutonium is formed from uranium in nuclear reactors and generally stays in the
body for decades, exposing organs and tissues to radiation and increasing the
risk of cancer, experts say.
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