Gov't designates new 'hot spots' near Fukushima plant (JAPAN)

[AsahinaKimi]

The NNSA hazard map released by the U.S. federal government. The Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant is marked by a white dot at right.

TOKYO (Kyodo) -- The government on Thursday newly designated 59 households in four areas in the city of Minamisoma, Fukushima Prefecture, as being located in "hot spots" recommended for evacuation near the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.

This is the second time that the government's task force on the nuclear crisis triggered by the March earthquake and tsunami has designated so-called hot spots, where radiation levels are sporadically higher than in other locations nearby.


Workers measure the ground near a rain water outlet in Minamisoma, Fukushima Prefecture, on June 12. (Mainichi

The first hot spots were announced late last month, affecting 113 households in the city of Date in Fukushima Prefecture.

The new hot spots in Minamisoma are out of the government-designated evacuation areas and evacuation preparation zones near the troubled nuclear power complex, but the hot spots' annual level of radiation was estimated to top 20 millisieverts, according to a radiation dose survey conducted on June 27.

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