information about Fukushima published in English in Japanese media info publiée en anglais dans la presse japonaise
21 Septembre 2013
http://mainichi.jp/english/english/newsselect/news/20130921p2a00m0na004000c.html
The secretariat of the Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) reprimanded a chemical manufacturer on Sept. 20 for dumping a radioactive substance as regular industrial waste by mistake.
According to the NRA secretariat, chemical company JSR Life Sciences Corp. in Tsukuba, Ibaraki Prefecture, mistakenly disposed of a disc of americium-241 about 2.5 centimeters in diameter and 1 millimeter thick, or about 3 million becquerels of the radioactive material. Though that's 300 times more than the upper limit listed in Japan's radiation hazard prevention law, the NRA secretariat issued assurances that the dumped material would not impact human health as it had already been processed along with other waste.
The americium disc was part of a particle measuring machine JSR Life Sciences discarded in March this year. The material was sealed within a metal coating at the time. The equipment company that had sold the machine to JSR Life Sciences informed the firm in August that the device could not be disposed of as regular industrial waste.
The equipment was shredded and has been recycled.