Japan nuclear update: No need to worry about Tokyo tap water, officials say
(Read article summary)Tokyo tap water is again within acceptable drinking limits for infants, after briefly testing too radioactive. Meanwhile, three workers at the stricken Fukushima nuclear power plant were injured Thursday.
The radioactivity of Tokyo tap water came within acceptable drinking limits for infants on Thursday, prompting Japanese officials to drop restrictions that had been raised a day earlier. But that positive news came as officials also announced that more three workers at the stricken Fukushima nuclear power plant were injured.
Tests on Thursday at the Kanamichi Water Purification Plant, which provides water to Tokyo, showed 79 becquerels of radioactive iodine per kilogram of water – bringing it under the 100 becquerels per liter limit for infants. The acceptable limit for adults it is 300. Yesterday officials measured it at 210.
Yet even at that above-normal level, scientists said there was no need for alarm. Otsura Niwa, a Kyoto University professor emeritus of radiation biology, told the Mainichi Daily News that "Japan's standards are too strict in the first place. Even if babies are given tap water, their parents don't have to worry too much about it."
