China detected trace amounts of radioactive iodine-131 in the atmosphere above coastal areas yesterday, as the country monitors for contamination from the nuclear accident in Japan.
The isotope was first found above Heilongjiang province in the northeast, and later over Jiangsu, Shanghai, Zhejiang, Anhui, Guangdong and Guangxi in the southeast, the Ministry of Environment said in statements on its website yesterday.
The amount of additional radioactive particles found was less than one-100,000th the usual atmospheric level, and so won’t jeopardize health or contaminate food and water, the Ministry of Health said March 27. Iodine-131 doesn’t exist in nature and is among substances leaked from the Fukushima Dai- Ichi nuclear plant on Japan’s eastern seaboard, according to the Chinese government.
China’s monitoring for radioactive material has included checks of ships and air passengers from Japan to assuage contamination concerns that earlier this month prompted Chinese shoppers to clear shelves of salt as a perceived defense against radiation exposure.
Tests of food and water are being carried out in 14 northeastern and coastal provinces and cities, including Beijing, the health ministry said March 27.
Japan’s March 11 earthquake and subsequent tsunami, which disabled backup cooling systems at the six-reactor Fukushima complex, has left more than 28,000 people dead or missing. Tests March 27 detected radiation at the complex’s No. 2 unit that might cause vomiting, hair loss and diarrhea upon exposure, and that four hours of contact may be fatal. Water may be leaking from the reactor, Sakae Muto, a vice president at plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co., said at a news conference yesterday in Tokyo.
Reactor Approvals
Heilongjiang is about 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) northwest across the Sea of Japan from Fukushima. China, building more reactors than any other nation, said March 16 it will stop approving new nuclear plants “until safety and improved long-term development plans are cleared.”
The world’s biggest energy consumer may slow construction of inland nuclear plants, China Business News reported yesterday, citing Wei Shaofeng, deputy director at the official China Electricity Council. The Chinese provinces of Liaoning, Jilin, Henan, Hunan and Jiangxi may halt plans to accelerate nuclear plant construction, according to the report.
The council cut its target for China’s 2020 nuclear power capacity by 10 gigawatts from the original 90 gigawatts, according to China Business News. The percentage of nuclear power in the country’s total energy mix will be no more than 3 percent in the future, it said.
China’s nuclear power capacity may reach 40 gigawatts by 2015 and exceed 70 gigawatts by 2020, Han Wenke, head of energy research at the National Development and Reform Commission, said in June. China had 10.82 gigawatts of nuclear capacity at the end of 2010, the electricity council said in February.
