It's been three months since the 3/11 earthquake---Part 4: Radioactive contamination

A majority of Japanese people think that if the Fukushima disaster hadn't happened, Japan could recover much faster. Needless to say, the disaster has complicated the situation. Despite a large number of people working very hard under extremely dangerous circumstances, there is still no sign that the plant is getting back under control. Recently, it turned out that eight workers have already been exposed to over 250mSv of radiation, including internal exposure (The figure is the temporary radiation dose limit per year only for workers at this plant in response to the immediate crisis). Since there are so many workers from various industries at the plant that the capacity of measuring internal exposure doses cannot meet the demand. It's been said that for the workers, the radiation exposure control is very important because if the control isn't good enough to protect their health, it will end up spelling trouble for overcoming the crisis.

As time goes by, thanks to great efforts made by some specialists from various fields, NPOs and citizens' groups, the issue of which areas have been contaminated by radioactive materials is becoming clear. On top of that, local governments relatively far from Fukushima prefecture recently bowed to public pressure and finally started more detailed investigations on radiation levels. So far, it's been said that a large amount of radioactive materials which were emitted by hydrogen explosions on the 12th and 14th of March have caused a wide range of contamination. The contamination was mostly caused by the direction of the wind on those two days, and the rain on the 21st and 22nd. Because of this, the soil radiation levels aren't directly related to the distance from the Fukushima plant. On top of that, it has turned out that recent air radiation levels are almost proportional to soil radiation levels. It seems that at half a meter above ground the air radiation level is slightly higher than the air higher up. This shows that current radiation comes mainly from radioactive fallout of the soil.

Actually, what is bothering people the most is not knowing how to understand the radiation levels. Our government has ordered residences in some areas to evacuate and set the guidelines for protection from radiation, but some of the guidelines have been controversial since they was announced. Some specialists have been insisting that some guidelines are not safe enough to protect people, especially children. A lot of people are skeptical of the guidelines, assuming that the government must have set them not only from the viewpoint of safeguarding the health and safety of all the people but also from the viewpoint of various social impacts. On the other hand, some people don't pay enough attention to the guidelines. Given that health effects of low-level radiation exposure have been controversial even among specialists in the field because there isn't enough data on them, I think that people have no choice but to protect themselves and to figure out what to do by themselves based on various reliable information. However, some people don't seem to like to decide what to do by themselves. Some are at a loss as to what to believe and what to do. On the other hand, some people seem to be annoyed that they are being told what to do.

I hope that another strong aftershock won't hit the plant.