Cesium in Incinerator Dust Across East Japan

Published on Sunday, August 28, 2011 by The Japan Times
Cesium in Incinerator Dust Across East Japan


High levels of cesium isotopes are cropping up in dust at 42 incineration plants in seven prefectures, including Chiba and Iwate, an Environment Ministry survey of the Kanto and Tohoku regions shows.

According to the report, released late Saturday, the highest cesium levels in the dust ranged from 95,300 becquerels in Fukushima Prefecture and 70,800 becquerels in Chiba Prefecture to 30,000 becquerels in Iwate Prefecture.

But even the lower levels in the dust exceeded 8,000 becquerels per kilogram in Ibaraki, Tochigi, Gunma and Tokyo.

The 16-prefecture survey covered 469 incinerator operators in Tohoku and Kanto from late June, and was reported to a panel of experts at the ministry that is discussing how to safely bury incinerator ash and dust with cesium levels above 8,000 becquerels per kilogram. .............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2011/08/28-0

For lack of information. What, exactly, do they incinerate at these plants?

nt

But the article fails on multiple levels to convey any information other than high counts of Cs are showing up in ash. It's kind of like saying 8" of rain fell. Where? When? How widespread?

What's apparently happening is that the radioactivity becomes concentrated in the remaining dust, after incineration. They've seen this also at waste treatment plants, where the sludge concentrates the radioactivity.