OurPlanet-TV has obtained unpublished food data of Fukushima Prefecture from March 19, 2011, following the accident at Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station. According to these data, 48,000 becquerels per kilogram (bq/kg) of radioactive iodine-131 (I-131) had been detected in chives in Fukushima City. In addition, high levels of both cesium-134 (Cs-134) and Cs-137 were also measured, at 64,000 bq/kg each. Also not mentioned until now was that I-132 levels even higher than those of I-131 were recorded, at 76,000 bq/kg.
These data consist of measurements taken by the Fukushima prefectural government on March 19, 2011 for 37 environmental samples that included vegetables from farmers in 34 cities, towns, and villages in the prefecture after the national government had announced provisional regulation values for foods on March 17. However, since the samples had been collected based on “Method for Sampling of Environmental Materials in Emergencies,” which had been sent out by Japan Chemical Analysis Center (JCAC), rather than the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare’s (MHLW’s) manual for radioactive measurements of foodstuffs in emergencies, the data were never released but kept stored away for ten years.
Concentrations of Radioactive Substances Detected Exceeding Those of Designated Wastes
According to the data, an absurdly high level of 880,000 bq/kg of radioactive I-131 was measured in pasture grasses in Iitate Village; and in spinach from Otama Village, levels of 43,000 bq/kg of I-131, 73,000 bq/kg of I-132, 89,000 bq/kg of Cs-137, and 90,000 bq/kg of Cs-134 were recorded. These readings vastly exceed the reference value of 8,000 bq/kg or more for designated radioactive waste requiring special disposal methods.
The provisional regulation values on foods released on March 17, 2011 by MHLW showed 2,000 bq/kg for radioactive iodine and 500 bq/kg for cesium, but in 34 of the 37 samples, contamination exceeding these provisional values was measured. Correction for radioactive decay was not done for these figures, so it appears the levels had been even higher when the samples were collected.
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