RADIOACTIVE caesium and iodine has been deposited in Japan far from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, at levels that were considered highly contaminated after Chernobyl.
Readings taken by the Japanese science ministry, MEXT, reveal high levels of caesium-137 and iodine-131 outside the 30-kilometre evacuation zone, mostly to the north-north-west. Iodine-131, with a half-life of eight days, should disappear in a matter of weeks. The bigger worry concerns caesium-137, which has a half-life of 30 years and could pose a health threat for far longer. How serious that will be depends on where it lands, and whether remediation measures are possible.…
