Nearly one-tenth of Japanese territory blanketed with Fukushima fallout

The PanOrient News reports that radioactive Cesium-134 and -137 fallout has blanketed 8% of Japan's land mass, and describes the route of various large radiation clouds in the aftermath of meltdowns and explosions at Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in mid March. The Australian Broadcasting Corporation also reported the story, including the fact that 30,000 square kilometers [more than 11,500 square miles] of Japanese territory is contaminated with 10,000 Becquerels per square meter, or more, of radioactive cesium contamination.

Aileen Mioko Smith of Green Action Japan has commented about this news that:

"New data published recently by MEXT* in Japan indicate 8% of landmass is contaminated with cesium from the initial plumes at Fukushima – amounting to 30,000 square kilometers. The area of land the Japanese government has “committed” to decontamination is 1,300 sq km [just over 500 square miles].

This is the first time the Japanese government has released data on the total area of Japan affected by fallout.

In September Asahi Shimbun released its calculations on the area of land affected by cesium 137 to a level of 30,000 bequerels per square meter or above. They reported estimates of 8,000 sq km [over 3,000 sq miles] at this level."

*Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT)