An extensive study of internal radiation exposure in Fukushima Prefecture children detected no radioactive cesium among the examinees, according to the results of a study published Friday.
The study, the first of its kind, involved over 2,700 infants and small children mostly from Fukushima who could have been exposed to radiation during and after the Fukushima No. 1 power plant crisis in 2011. The children were examined by three local medical institutions: Hirata Central Hospital, Minamisoma Municipal General Hospital and Tokiwakai Hospital.
Published in the Proceedings of the Japan Academy magazine, the study examined 2,707 children up to 11 years of age from December 2013 to March 2015, using newly developed whole body counters designed especially for scanning small children.
The study found no cesium in the children, indicating that even if they did ingest food and water tainted with radiation, the levels of any radioactive isotopes present must have been negligibly low to avoid detection by such a high-precision machine.
The results were the same among children who ingested local produce and tap water and those who did not, the study showed.
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Of the children examined, 638 were living in Minamisoma, 218 were former Minamisoma residents, and the rest were from outside the 30-km radius of the nuclear power plant.
The latter group includes 1,579 mostly from Koriyama and Miharu, west of the doomed plant, and from Daigo, Ibaraki Prefecture, as well as 272 mostly from Iwaki, to the south of the plant.
Read more at Extensive radiation study finds no internal cesium exposure in Fukushima children
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