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Low levels of radioactive material iodine-131 were detected Saturday in Heilongjiang Province, north of Beijing, China's National Nuclear Emergency Coordination Committee said. The radioactive material was likely to have come from the tsunami-damaged Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan, the agency said. However, since the radiation level was below one-hundred-thousandth of the average natural background radiation, it did not pose a risk to public health or the environment, and no protective measures were required, the agency said in a statement. Repair work at the troubled Fukushima nuclear plant has continued into a third week. More countries are beginning to detect tiny amounts of radioactive iodine and cesium in the air that have drifted across oceans from the overheated nuclear reactors in Fukushima, where a tsunami following a 9.0-magnitude earthquake knocked out its crucial cooling system on March 11. The Austrian capital of Vienna detected very low concentrations of radioactive particles Friday, believed to have come from Fukushima, the Austrian Agency for Health and Food Safety (AGES) said. The detected radioactive materials were iodine-131 and cesium-137, and the tiny amount would pose no threat to human health, the Austrian agency said. It was the first time the two radioactive materials were detected in the country since the quake struck Japan. Sea water samples taken from about 330 meters south of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant on Japan's east coast showed radioactive iodine 1,250.8 times above legal limit near the drain outlets of the reactors, local media reported Saturday. The reading was taken on Friday morning, recording the highest radiation level so far from the surveys begun this week, plant owner Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) said. However, radioactive materials would "significantly dilute" by the time they were consumed by marine species, Kyodo News reported, citing the agency. The agency said the radiation would not have a significant impact on fishery products because fishing was not conducted within 20 km of the plant. Government spokesman Yukio Edano said Saturday the situation at the stricken plant remained unpredicable, and it would be "a long time" until the crisis was over. "To prevent situations going worse, we're trying to restore electrical supply at the plant and inject freshwater into the nuclear units to make essential improvements," Edano said Saturday. "We have to remain alert." |
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