Tokyo park closed after rocketing radiation levels fund

TOKYO:

Extremely high levels of radiation
have been  discovered  in a play
ground in Tokyo ,officials  said Friday
fanning  fears for  children,s health
in the area.

Soil underneath a slide at the park in
the  northwest of the Japanese capital
showed radiation readings  of up 480
microsieverts per hour, the local administrative
office  said.

The radiation level is over 2000 times that
at which the national government requires
soil cleaning in area around  the Fukushiima
Daiichi nuclear plant,where reactors  melted
down after the March 2011 tsunami,

The  standard ,however is for measurement
taken at 0.5 to 10 metres above ground ,while
officials in Tokyo 's Toshima ward checked
the  ground itself

Officials wee mad e aware of the contamination
after a  local resident reported it on Monday
and say they do not think it si connected to the
disaster at Fukushima.

s afteThe park was built  in 2013 two years
after the Fukushima  nuclear crisis  a local
official told AFP  on what was previously
a parking  lot for  Tokyo 's sanitation department,

Top  soil at  the  lot was replaced  before the
land was turned into  park ,said the Toshima
official,

The park has been sealed and Toshima
ward is  discussing with experts how to
approach the problem ,she  added,
AFP