Japan: Fukushima residents dump radiated soil in absence of plan

Reuters ^ | 07/05/11 | Antoni Slodkowski

[TigerLikesRooster]

Fukushima residents dump radiated soil in absence of plan

Tue Jul 5, 2011 1:33am GMT

By Antoni Slodkowski

FUKUSHIMA, Japan (Reuters) - They scoop up soil from their gardens and dump it in holes dug out in parks and nearby forests, scrub their roofs with soap and refuse to let their children play outside.

More than three months after a massive earthquake and tsunami triggered a nuclear meltdown at a nearby power plant, Fukushima residents are scrambling to cope with contamination on their own in the absence of a long-term plan from the government.

"Everything and everyone here is paralysed and we feel left on our own, unsure whether it's actually safe for us to stay in the city," said Akiko Itoh, 42, with her four-year old son in her lap.

Even though this city of 300,000 lies outside of the 30-km evacuation zone around the crippled Fukushima Daiichi plant, a recent survey showed radiation levels in several spots exceed 13 millisieverts per year, more than six times natural levels.

[bvw]

Your imagination is in over-drive and turning good into bad. For example you write: "at public parks where children play and in rivers that provide drinking water."

These are a careful, clean people. It is unlikely that anyone is storing the higher-rad soil near where children play. The article reports that they are burying it in areas where people and children do not normally go.

Nothing at all is reported about dumping it in rivers.

[bgill]

"The article reports that they are burying it in areas where people and children do not normally go. Nothing at all is reported about dumping it in rivers."

Go read the full article:

Others were spotted dumping their nuclear waste in public parks and by the river, residents said.

[bvw]

Spotted and reported. The residents were not happy with the bad actors.

[ransomnote]

“I scooped up all the radioactive soil and grass from my garden and dumped it in the forest, so no one could find it... Others were spotted dumping their nuclear waste in public parks and by the river, residents said.”

So this is just one city of 300,000 people and how many more cities are there in this situation? And they are secreting their radioactive materials where it can be carried into the ground water and still the government hasn’t seen the need to take any action? I am not blaming the people who are trying to protect their families - it would just be nice if their government had an interest in helping them...

[moovova]

All my life I have had a passion—a passion against waiting.

You Sir, are a survivor!

[bvw]

Well, the flip side of not-waiting is that one can be bold to the point of being impudent or hasty to the point of recklessness.