Dr. Tsubokura's Radiation Lecture Vol.19

Author: Masaharu Tsubokura

Editors: Akihiko Ozaki M.D., Yuki Senoo

37. The current level of exposure is lower than the average exposure level in the 1960s

Nuclear weapons tests, which have been conducted several hundred times since the 1950s, have released significant levels of radioactive substances worldwide. Findings from a post-World War Ⅱ survey showed that the radioactive cesium was detected in the bodies and urine of Japanese people and in food made in Japan.

On average, several hundred becquerels of radioactive cesium 137 were detected in Japanese adult males in the mid-1960s. By contrast, the findings of an investigation that examined the level of internal exposure among adults living in Minamisoma City in 2015 showed that people who had the same internal radiation level as the average level in the mid-1960s were less than 1% of the population.

Even in the examination from fall to winter 2011 when the influence of the nuclear power plant accident remained, the rate of adults with internal exposure exceeding the average level detected in the mid-1960s was approximately 10%.