School Children Used To Clean Radioactive Swimming Pools: Dirt Contained Cesium At 17,020 Becquerels Per Kg

17,020 Becquerels/Kg Cesium in Dirt Cleaned Out from Elementary School Swimming Pool in Ibaraki Prefecture (EX_SKF, July 5, 2011):

And who did the cleaning? Children.

Now on to one of the favorite topics of this blog: Swimming pools in Japan.

Well they did it again, this time the Board of Education in Joso City in Ibaraki Prefecture. Back in May, as one of the annual, educational events of the schools, public elementary schools and junior high schools in Joso City had their pupils clean out the school swimming pools in preparation for the school swimming classes during summer. The teachers also helped out. Together, they cleaned the pools and scooped out the dirt that had accumulated at the bottom of the pools.

5 schools kept the dirt in a corner of the schoolyards. At one elementary school, a concerned PTA member decided to measure the radiation of the dirt. The result? 17,020 becquerels/kg of radioactive cesium.

There are 14 public elementary schools, 5 junior high schools in Joso City. The city’s Board of Education runs both elementary schools and junior high schools.

From Mainichi Shinbun (7/5/2011):

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It was disclosed that 17,020 becquerels per kilogram of radioactive cesium was detected from the dirt that were scooped out from the swimming pool when the teachers and pupils of one public elementary schools in Joso City did the cleaning of the pool in May. The amount is more than twice the safety limit set by the Ministry of the Environment for the radioactive debris that could be buried. The school moved the dirt in a separate area. Upon this news, the city’s Board of Education surveyed the situation of the pool dirt in city’s elementary schools and junior high schools on July 4, and found out there were 4 other elementary schools who had kept the dirt on the school premises.

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A member of the school’s PTA collected a bucketful of this dirt on June 11, and sent 3 kilograms of it to a laboratory specializing in radiation measurement. The result, which was delivered on June 29, showed the sample contained 7,700 becquerels/kg of cesium-134 and 9,320 becquerels/kg of cesium-137.

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The safety limit for disposal of radioactive debris, as announced by the Ministry of the Environment last month, is 8,000 becquerels/kg. If it is below that limit, you can bury the debris. If it exceeds, then the measures will be necessary to shield the radiation. The Ministry of Education and Science says the dirt from the pool would be treated in the same manner.

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The vice principal of the elementary school said, “As an activity to promote love for the school, 5th and 6th graders participated in the cleaning.” The school didn’t think of the radiation contamination then. The city’s Board of Education instructed the principals of the city’s schools on May 25 to pay attention to the health of pupils when cleaning the swimming pools, but by that time 4 schools including this elementary school had already had pupils clean the pools.

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The city’s Board of Education has decided to have a company that specializes in disposal of industrial waste to dispose the pool dirt from the school. As to the dirt at 4 other schools, the radiation will be measured on July 5. If the numbers are higher than those for the schoolyards, the dirt will be disposed as industrial waste. Koichi Sakamaki, manager for education [at the Board of Education] said, “Cleaning the swimming pools is part of the school instruction. But we should have been a bit more careful.”

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The member of the school’s PTA says, “That the children did the cleanup of radioactive dirt should be recorded as such , for the future health monitoring. The city’s Board of Education should provide appropriate countermeasures, and disclose information fully.” The Board of Education of Ibaraki Prefecture, on the other hand, says “While it’s true there is no standard for evaluating the pool dirt, but there is no need to be nervous as long as you wash your hands after cleaning the pool.”

How could the school not think of radiation contamination, when the radioactive plume from Fukushima I Nuke Plant was constantly blowing over Ibaraki Prefecture and the air radiation level remains elevated? (I guess the vice principal didn’t have access to the Internet to take a look at those foreign meteorological agencies’ simulations…)

No matter. Cleaning is over now anyway, and the rest of the schools didn’t even keep the dirt. But the pool water is clean, I’m sure.

But since when the dirt that contains that much radioactive cesium can be disposed as “industrial waste”, instead of nuclear waste?

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