Tokyo Electric Power Co. plans to clear debris from the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant despite strong indications that earlier removal work contaminated rice paddies far from the stricken facility, The Asahi Shimbun has learned.
The agriculture ministry pointed out the possibility that the removal of rubble from the plant site in August last year spread radioactive substances to 14 rice paddies in Minami-Soma outside the evacuation zone and more than 20 kilometers from the plant.
Cesium levels in the rice crops harvested last autumn exceeded the safety standard of 100 becquerels per kilogram, according to ministry officials.
Radioactivity readings above the standard were also detected from rice grown at five locations inside the evacuation zone.
The ministry called on TEPCO to take preventive measures in its debris-removal work.
Although the utility has since suspended its clearing operations at the plant, the company plans to soon dismantle a cover installed on the No. 1 reactor building, where highly contaminated debris remains to be removed.
TEPCO has not told the public about the ministry’s findings.
“(If TEPCO hopes to resume rubble-clearing operations), providing information on the possibility of the spread of (contaminated substances) is a major premise,” said Takehiko Murayama, a risk management professor at the Tokyo Institute of Technology.
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