Michele Kearney's Nuclear Wire

Major Energy and Environmental News and Commentary affecting the Nuclear Industry.

Saturday, March 19, 2011

Breaking News Japan finds elevated radiation levels in food



Japanese authorities have discovered milk and spinach with elevated radiation levels, the latest worrying development in the nuclear crisis that resulted from the devastating earthquake and tsunami which hit the nation eight days ago.

On Saturday, the country's top government spokesman, said monitors had found traces of radiation higher than the legal limit under Japan’s food safety laws. While Yukio Edano insisted there was no threat to human health, the results mean Japan faces a possible food safety scare on top of the nuclear crisis.

The news came as firefighters resumed spraying water on to the No 3 reactor at the stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant where engineers and emergency workers are working day and night to tackle problems at six nuclear reactors.

“We can’t say anything definite at this point, but it appears that we were successful in getting some water to the pool [at reactor No 3], and the situation is stable,” Mr Edano said.

Speaking about the contaminated food, Mr Edano said monitors had found radiation above the legal safety limit in one sample of milk from a farm in Fukushima prefecture on Friday evening. On Saturday, elevated levels of radiation were discovered in six samples of spinach from Ibaraki prefecture, which were taken more than 30km away from the troubled Fukushima nuclear plant.

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