Japan update 3/1/12

Today Hirono’s central government moved back to Hirono. I found out in early January from a friend of mine who works for Hirono city hall that they were planning to move back to Hirono in March, and it looks like they have done it:

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20120302a1.html

Opinions seem to vary about the viability of folks moving back to Hirono. Some are hopeful and look forward to returning, while others are more pessimistic and believe that returning is not an option.

The article mentioned above states “A public Geiger counter near the town hall read 0.42 microsieverts per hour Thursday morning, a level several times higher than seen in Tokyo.”

And since I can’t keep track of microsieverts / millisieverts and what those numbers mean for radiation exposure, I thought I would try to figure it out and put it down here:

sievert = international unit of measure for an absorbed dose of radiation; measures the effect a dose of radiation will have on the cells of the body. 1 sievert (or “Sv”) = 100 rem (the measuring unit used in the U.S.). Receiving 1 Sv all at once will make you sick; receiving 6 Sv or more all at once is most likely fatal.

millisievert = 1/1000 of a Sievert (or 0.001 Sv). For example, a mammogram is 2 mSv, head CT scan 2 mSv, chest CT scan 8 mSv.

microsievert = 1/1,000,000 of a Sievert (or 0.000001 Sv). For example, an arm x-ray is 1 microsievert, a dental x-ray is 5 microsieverts, eating a banana is 0.1  microsieverts (weird, huh?), sleeping next to someone is 0.05 microsieverts.

For a point of reference, the background radiation dose we receive on a normal day is around 10 microsieverts (or 0.01 milliseiverts) The EPA yearly limit for radiation exposure to an average person (i.e. someone who doesn’t work with nuclear reactors) is 1 millisievert a year (or 1000 microsieverts).

For a chart that really provides perspective, check out http://xkcd.com/radiation/.

So if Hirono is currently reporting 0.42 microsieverts/hour, then the annual dosage would be 3.7 millisieverts. That’s equivalent to about a  head CT scan and a mammagram. Not that I would want to have both of those in a year, but that’s not too bad.

Maybe that trip to visit them in the fall will indeed happen.

Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand

"Unbroken" by Laura Hillenbrand

Title/Author: Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand

Genre: Nonfiction – World War II, aviation and Japanese POW camps in Japan

Rating: 5 out of 5

WV Reader Review: The story of how Louis Samperini (runner in Berlin Olympics) survived over two months in the Pacific Ocean after his plane was shot down. The book documents his survival in POW  camps and return to the U.S. He had been pronounced missing, and then dead by the U.S.A. A very powerful book.

Life at a Japanese evacuation center

Life in an evacuation center (you can forget privacy)

I just found these reports from a nuclear consultant who lives (well, lived) in Tomioka, a town near the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. He and his family were evacuated, and he has reported his experiences in a 3-part series in English.

[Tomioka is about 10 miles north of Hirono, the town I lived in. - Andi]

Tohiro Kitamura reports frustration with the government and the lack of consideration for the evacuees, ranging from insufficient bathrooms (1 toilet for 500 people, in one case) and rations of expired food, to discrimination with ‘optional lodgings’ (if you have the money, then you can stay at a hotel or inn with some government compensation) and unclear directions (‘voluntary evacuation’ and radiation testing with nothing to show for it).

Take a look for yourself:

Kitamura’s evacuation experience – part 1 (PDF)

Kitamura’s evacuation experience – part 2 (PDF)

Kitamura’s evacuation experience – part 3 (PDF)

In his reports, Kitamura mentions people crossing the “No Entry” zones to get to their home, however to do so requires a car and fuel. One man traveled alone in the evacuation zone to take photos of homes for evacuees who couldn’t make the trek themselves:

http://goo.gl/bUyND

[Visiting Yonomori Park for the cherry blossoms is one of my fondest memories of living in Japan. The park is filled with cherry trees, and the city would put in lights to shine up through the branches of the cherry trees for the evenings when people would sit under the trees and have picnics with the blossoms falling like snow. -Andi]

Reports provided by JAIF. News by Mainichi Daily News.