Japan Radioactive Condo Complex Forces First Floor Residents to Evacuate
[Photo-Image: TEPCO live web cam, doomed Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant Number One, January 17, 2012]
The radiation ‘fallout’ from the damaged Fukushima nuclear reactors in Japan continues with the news residents on the first floor of a newly constructed condominium complex–nuclear evacuees from Minamisoma and Namie–will be relocated due to high levels of radioactivity discovered in the foundation. The residents on the upper floors, left to their own radiation devices.
FUKUSHIMA — High levels of radiation have been detected on the first floor of a newly built condominium complex in Nihonmatsu, Fukushima Prefecture, the municipal government said.
Crushed stones used in the building’s concrete foundation came from the exclusion zone around the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant, local government officials said.
A quarry firm said Monday it shipped some 5,280 tons of crushed stones from Namie, Fukushima Prefecture, to 19 contractors after the nuclear crisis started last March 11, including some 1,065 tons distributed to a concrete maker that provided the material for the Nihonmatsu building’s foundations.
The firm is investigating its shipments to determine if crushed stones contaminated with radiation also were used in other buildings.
Tuesday, January 17th marked the 17th anniversary of the deadly 1995 Hanshin (Kobe) Earthquake. Prior to the March 11, 2011, 9.0 Great Tohoku earthquake, the Kobe quake ranked as Japan’s worst natural disaster since 1923.
Tuesday marks the 17th anniversary of an earthquake that hit the port city of Kobe and its surrounding areas. Local communities are holding numerous ceremonies to remember the nearly 6,500 people who died in the disaster.
At noon in a disaster-prevention center in central Kobe, about 400 people offered a silent prayer for the victims of the Great Hanshin Earthquake, while elementary school children rang bells.
Participants at the event included officials from Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima, the 3 prefectures that were hardest-hit by the earthquake and tsunami in eastern Japan on March 11th last year.
