Returnees from Japan test negative for radiation

by Manjula FERNANDO

The Atomic Energy Authority (AEA) has so far screened over 150 returnees from Japan and none of them had been tested positive for radiation exposure, a senior official for the Authority told Sunday Observer yesterday.

She said these returnees visited the special desk at the Authority in Orugodawatte to get a free screening for radiation exposure.

“Anyone who fears the probability of accidental exposure can come to us for a test and it is a volunteer exercise,” she said adding that contamination from one human to another will not take place in an exposure of this nature. If a person has been exposed to radioactive mass, he or she could possibly take that to the next generation via human genes and the babies could be deformed.

Since the disaster at the Japan’s Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant, the Authority had been observing the atmosphere above the country constantly and sometimes on an hourly basis to ascertain if contaminated air has reached Sri Lanka. “But the chance of contaminated air drifting as far as Sri Lanka is highly remote,” she said.

The tests are for checking whether radioactive emissions such as Caesium, Iodine and Strontium, the emissions from the reactor fuel Uranium Oxide are present in the atmosphere. But so far there have been no positive readings for these substances in the air.”

The official said the AEA is keeping close contact with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) for their readings on Japan and neighbouring atmosphere. “We get daily readings from the IAEA.” According to their readings, not even Korea, which is closest to Japan has shown any atmospheric contamination.

The air above the nuclear plant in Fukushima has been tested positive for radiation. But there is no indication that these radioactive emissions have reached the clouds.

“There has to be a bigger explosion for the emissions to travel that far. The Japanese authorities have warned their people not to get exposed to rain since these emissions in the air are water soluble. Thus the rainwater could be contaminated by the air below,” she explained.

According to her the Met Department has confirmed that the airflow from Japan had been towards the Pacific, away from Sri Lanka but the AEA is to continue their observations until the threat is completely over.