Japan Nuclear Cycle Development Institute (JNC) is being particularly uncooperative in regard to information that could be of use to anti-nuclear activists. Nevertheless, we have extracted the following:
Dose Rate (JNC figures)
Maximum surface dose rate: 4.2 micro-sieverts per hour (approx. 36.8 milli-sieverts per year)
Average surface dose rate: 0.85 micro-sieverts per hour (approx. 7.4 milli-sieverts per year)
Radioactivity (Ministry of Land Infrastructure and Transport figure)
4 becquerel per gram
The 4 becquerels per gram figure was provided verbally by an officer of the Ministry of Land Infrastructure and Transport when we went to seek information under freedom of information. Our main purpose was to get the name of the US company that would take the soil, but we were unsuccessful on that point. When JNC was confronted with this figure, it said that the radioactivity was 3 becquerels per gram.
The basis for these two radioactivity figures is unclear, except that JNC said that it never measured the radioactivity directly. It said that it calculated the figure from the dose rate. We haven't delved further, so we can't say whether the calculation took into consideration all the uranium isotopes and their daughters. One must be skeptical about JNC's claim not to have measured the radioactivity directly, but 3-4 becquerel per gram is plausible.
Uranium Concentration
Based on the above, we would expect the uranium concentration to be in the order of 200-350 ppm.
US Company's Name
The contract was signed on August 25th, but JNC said that it doesn't have the American company's permission to release its name, so it doesn't plan to do so. We understand that residents of Okayama Prefecture have been pursuing this under freedom of information, but so far without success. Perhaps an easier route would be through a question in the Diet, but that won't be possible till after the election. If the information is important, we would have to say that time is running out at this end.
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