Massive levels of radioactive cesium detected at quarry near Fukushima plant

[kristopher]

Massive levels of radioactive cesium detected at quarry near Fukushima plant

FUKUSHIMA -- Massive levels of radioactive cesium have been detected from gravel at a quarry near the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant, after high radiation was detected at buildings using gravel from the same quarry, prefectural officials said.

The Fukushima Prefectural Government examined samples of the gravel from the quarry in the town of Namie after inspecting the site on Jan. 20.

Tests detected up to 214,200 becquerels of radioactive cesium per kilogram of gravel, far above the levels at other quarries operating in the evacuation zones around the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant. About 60,000-210,000 becquerels of cesium was found in most of the gravel that had been kept outdoors at the quarry since the disaster.

High radiation levels have been detected at apartment blocks and other construction projects built with gravel from the Namie quarry, and the findings lend further backing to the theory that this gravel was seriously contaminated with large amounts of cesium...

http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/national/news/20120216p2a00m0na006000c.html

[kristopher]

1. Radioactive Apartment Update: Was Radiation from Crushed Stone Used in Foundation?

Radioactive Apartment Update: Was Radiation from Crushed Stone Used in Foundation?

(Update: The stone pit operator, Futaba Saiseki Kogyo, sold the crushed stones to the concrete company in Nihonmatsu City in Fukushima which has since closed down. There is no record kept at the concrete company of where the concrete was sold and how much. The stone pit operator sold about 1000 tonnes to the concrete company, and the remaining 4000 tonnes or so to 20 construction companies inside Fukushima Prefecture.

The stone pit operator executive says he didn't know much about radiation, and that he would have stopped selling if the government had told him to. Information in Japanese, here and here.)

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For now, the media has decided to focus on the aggregate in the concrete used in the foundation of the apartment in Nihonmatsu City, Fukushima. The crushed stones from a stone pit in Namie-machi in the planned evacuation zone just outside the no-entry zone were freely shipped and sold until April 22, and several hundred job sites in Fukushima Prefecture may have used the stones...

http://ex-skf.blogspot.com/2012/01/radioactive-apartment-update-was.html