Rationing begins as Japan struggles to prevent panic over nuclear risks

Published on Thursday 24 March 2011 15:58

Shops across Tokyo began rationing yesterday after panic-buying of bottled water and disrupted deliveries left shelves bare. Milk, rice, water and toilet paper were among staples in short supply.

Panic-buying followed an announcement from city officials that radioactive iodine had been found in the capital's tapwater at more than twice the level considered safe for babies.

Radiation has been leaking from the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant 140 miles northeast of the capital, a city of 13 million, since it was rocked by the 11 March earthquake and engulfed by the ensuing tsunami. Feverish efforts to get the plant's crucial cooling system back in operation have been beset by explosions, fires and radiation scares.

Yesterday, two workers at the plant were treated at a hospital after stepping in contaminated water while laying cables. The water seeped over the top of their boots and onto their legs, said a spokesman for the Tokyo Electric Power Company.

The two workers probably suffered "beta ray burns," officials said. They tested at radiation levels between 170 to 180 millisieverts, well below the 250 millisieverts allowed, said Fumio Matsuda, said a spokesman for the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency. More than two dozen people have been injured trying to bring the plant under control.

The developments highlighted the challenges Japan faces after a magnitude-9.0 quake off Sendai triggered a tsunami. An estimated 18,000 people have been killed and hundreds of thousands left homeless as officials scramble to avert a major nuclear crisis.

Radiation has seeped into raw milk, seawater and 11 kinds of vegetables, including broccoli, cauliflower and turnips, grown in areas around the plant.

The US and Australia have halted imports of Japanese dairy and produce from the region, Hong Kong said it would require Japan perform safety checks on meat, eggs and seafood, and Canada said it would upgrade controls on Japanese food. Singapore has also banned the sale of produce from near the plant.

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Concerns also spread to Europe. In Iceland, officials said they measured trace amounts of radioactive iodine in the air but said it was "less than a millionth" of levels found in the wake of the 1986 Chernobyl disaster.

Radioactive iodine is short-lived, with a half-life of eight days - the length of time it takes for half of it to break down harmlessly.

However, experts say infants are particularly vulnerable to radioactive iodine, which can cause thyroid cancer.

In Tokyo, government spokesman Yukio Edano pleaded for calm, and said the government was considering importing bottled water to cover shortages.

Officials urged residents to avoid stockpiling, sending workers to distribute 240,000 bottles - enough for three small bottles of water for each of the 80,000 babies under one year old registered with the city.

New readings showed Tokyo tapwater was back to safe levels last night, but the relief was tempered by elevated levels of the cancer-linked isotope in two neighbouring prefectures: Chiba and Saitama. A city in a third prefecture, south of the nuclear plant, also showed high levels of radioactive iodine in tapwater.Tapwater in Kawaguchi City in Saitama, north of Tokyo, contained 210 becquerels of radioactive iodine - well above the 100 becquerels considered safe for babies but below the 300-becquerel level for adults, a health ministry official said.

In Chiba, the water tested high for radiation in two areas. The government there warned families in 11 cities not to give infants tapwater. "The high level of iodine was due to the nuclear disaster," an official said. "

Radiation levels also tested dangerously high in Hitachi in Ibaraki prefecture, about 70 miles south of the Fukushima plant. Officials said parents should stop using tapwater for baby formula but that it was no problem for infants to consume small amounts.

Hardship continued in tsunami-struck northeast. Some 660,000 households still do not have water. Some 209,000 homes still have no electricity. Damage is estimated at 192 billion, making it the most costly natural disaster on record.