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Clinical Trial
. 2014 Dec 5;9(12):e114407.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0114407. eCollection 2014.

Internal radiation exposure dose in Iwaki city, Fukushima prefecture after the accident at Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant

Makiko Orita  1 , Naomi Hayashida  1 , Hiroshi Nukui  1 , Naoko Fukuda  2 , Takashi Kudo  2 , Naoki Matsuda  3 , Yoshiko Fukushima  4 , Noboru Takamura  1
Affiliations
Clinical Trial

Internal radiation exposure dose in Iwaki city, Fukushima prefecture after the accident at Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant

Makiko Orita et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

As a result of the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant (FNPP) on 11 March 2011, a huge amount of radionuclides, including radiocesium, was released and spread over a wide area of eastern Japan. Although three years have passed since the accident, residents around the FNPP are anxious about internal radiation exposure due to radiocesium. In this study, we screened internal radiation exposure doses in Iwaki city of Fukushima prefecture, using a whole-body counter. The first screening was conducted from October 2012 to February 2013, and the second screening was conducted from May to November 2013. Study participants were employees of ALPINE and their families who underwent examination. A total of 2,839 participants (1,366 men and 1,473 women, 1-86 years old) underwent the first screening, and 2,092 (1,022 men and 1,070 women, 1-86 years old) underwent the second screening. The results showed that 99% of subjects registered below 300 Bq per body in the first screening, and all subjects registered below 300 Bq per body in the second screening. The committed effective dose ranged from 0.01-0.06 mSv in the first screening and 0.01-0.02 mSv in the second screening. Long-term follow-up studies are needed to avoid unnecessary chronic internal exposure and to reduce anxiety among the residents by communicating radiation health risks.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Location of Iwaki city in Fukushima Prefecture.
Figure 2
Figure 2. A vehicle-mounted type of WBC introduced in ALPINE, Iwaki city, Fukushima Prefecture.
a) The large-size car mounted type of WBC. b) The chair equipped with a NaI (T1) scintillation detector.
Figure 3
Figure 3. Participants detected with radiocesium in the first screening (a) and the second screening (b).
Figure 4
Figure 4. Detection rate of radiocesium by age group.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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