Fukushima Risks Chernobyl 'Dead Zone' as Radiation Soars

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http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2011/05/30/bloomberg1376-LLZK0I1A74E901-0PV3MV8LDJ1DOTDCLS9HQ5EHL3.DTL

Monday, May 30, 2011

(Updates with government comment in ninth paragraph.)

May 30 (Bloomberg) -- Radioactive soil in pockets of areas near Japan's crippled nuclear plant have reached the same level as Chernobyl, where a "dead zone" remains 25 years after the reactor in the former Soviet Union exploded.

Soil samples in areas outside the 20-kilometer (12 miles) exclusion zone around the Fukushima plant measured more than 1.48 million becquerels a square meter, the standard used for evacuating residents after the Chernobyl accident, Tomio Kawata, a fellow at the Nuclear Waste Management Organization of Japan, said in a research report published May 24 and given to the government. snip


"Basically, the way in which the current zones have been drawn up aren't a concern in terms of the impact on health," said Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano. "Using Mr. Kawata's report as a guide, we want to do what we can to improve the soil, so people can return as soon as possible."