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Nuclear regulators measured elevated radiation
levels on Thursday in a children's park in central Tokyo, city
officials said, more than 250 km (155 miles) from the crippled
Fukushima nuclear plant in northeast Japan.
One area of the park registered 480 microsieverts per hour, or
nearly half the recommended annual limit of exposure.
That compares with radiation levels ranging from 0.7 to 23.2
microsieverts per hour measured this month in the air in Okuma,
a town less than 20 km from the Fukushima plant.
It was not immediately clear why radiation levels were high in
the park, which opened two years after the 2011 disaster. It has
now been fenced off with an orange barricade, the city said.
"We are still checking what caused these elevated radiation
levels and what type of radioactive substance it is," said park
representative Kyoko Tsujimura, adding that radiation elsewhere
in the park remained low.
On Friday, television broadcast images of regulatory officials
in work uniforms measuring radiation from a patch of dirt beside
a colorful slide in the park.
The city has set up a health advice office to answer queries
from concerned parents.
Thousands of people are still living in temporary shelters and
have been unable to return home to hot zones closest to Tokyo
Electric Power's nuclear plant.
In the months after the nuclear meltdowns, concerned parents and
citizens began measuring radiation levels in Tokyo schools and
parks.
A drone with a small amount of radiation was found on Japanese
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's office building this week.
(Reporting by Mari Saito; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
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