Kamchatka radiation level not exceeding natural background

PETROPAVLOVSK-KAMCHATSKY (Itar-Tass) - The radiation level
on Kamchatka does not exceed the natural background and, according to data
at 09:00 local time (01:00 MSK), was 12 micro-roentgens per hour, the
Russian Emergency Situations Ministry's (EMERCOM) main department for the
Kamchatka Territory told Itar-Tass on Monday.
The radiation level monitoring on the peninsula is conducted in a
reinforced regime. The measurements are taken every 2 hours at 70 posts.
Since the accident at Fukushima-1 nuclear power plant in Japan, no excess
in the background radiation level has been not recorded in the region. Air
masses from the Japanese side have not reached Kamchatka.
The seaport of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky and the airport of
Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky in Yelizovo have organised control of all cargoes
coming to the peninsula from Japan and its neighbouring regions. No
radioactive contamination cases have been recorded, according to the
territorial government.
According to earlier reports, in addition to 70 radiation monitoring
posts in Kamchatka, a Mi-8 helicopter of the EMERCOM has been involved in
the work. The level of radiation over the cities of
Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, Yelizovo and Vilyuchinsk were measured from the
helicopter since March 17, the press centre of the EMERCOM main department
in the Kamchatka Territory told Itar-Tass. The radiation level on the
Kamchatka Peninsula did not exceed the background level and was no more
than 11 micro-roentgens per hour. The permissible level, according to the
regional government, is 30 micro-roentgens.
Since the accident at the Fukushima-1 nuclear power plant in Japan,
the permissible radiation level on the peninsula has not been exceeded.
According to the Kamchatka hydrometeorology centre, air masses from Japan
will not reach Kamchatka in the near future.
Specialists stressed that there is no threat of radioactive
contamination on the Kamchatka Peninsula, as well as in the Russian Far
East in general. Nevertheless, environmental monitoring is carried out
here in an intensified regime. The measurements are taken every 2 hours.
The data are transmitted in the media to inform the public about the
situation.
The Fukushima-1 NPP is a nuclear power plant located in the town of
Okuma in the Futaba District of Fukushima Prefecture, Japan, first
commissioned in 1971. The plant consists of six boiling water reactors.
These light water reactors have a combined power of 4.7 GW, making
Fukushima-1 one of the 15 largest nuclear power stations in the world.
Fukushima-1 was the first nuclear plant to be constructed and run entirely
by the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO). The plant suffered major
damage from the 9.0 earthquake and subsequent tsunami that hit Japan on
March 11, 2011, disabling the reactor cooling systems and triggering a
widespread evacuation surrounding the plant. The gravity of the ongoing
fires and meltdown of several of the plant's reactors has sparked
international concern that the disaster is heading towards becoming an
environmental calamity similar to that suffered at Chernobyl in 1986.
International experts estimate that if a chain reaction is initiated in
stored fissile material at the plant, it could affect an area up to 200
miles from the stricken nuclear complex. The Fukushima-2 Nuclear Power
Plant, 11.5 kilometres (7.1 mi) to the south, is also run by TEPCO.
On 25 March, Japan's nuclear regulator announced a likely breach and
radiation leak in the containment vessel of the unit 3 reactor, the only
one at the plant using MOX fuel. Based on global measurements,
international scientific groups estimated the radioactive fallout from
some of the most easily spread isotopes might approach the levels of the
worst nuclear accident, Chernobyl in 1986. Food grown in the area was
banned. Tokyo officials declared its tap water unsafe for infants for a
short time. The IAEA announced on 27 March that workers hospitalised
precautionarily on Friday had been exposed to between 2 and 6 Sv of
radiation at their ankles when standing in water in unit 3. International
leaders have expressed concerns about the accidents. The Japanese
Government and TEPCO have been criticised for poor communication with the
public. On 20 March, the Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano announced
that the plant would be closed once the crisis was over.