Minamisoma residents show low internal radiation exposure+

TOKYO, Aug. 13 Kyodo -
Tests conducted by the city of Minamisoma near the crippled nuclear plant in Fukushima Prefecture on about 900 residents showed low levels of internal radiation exposure, with none of those tested needing immediate treatment, city officials said Saturday.
One person measured just more than 1 millisievert of radioactive cesium when converted to exposure over the coming 50 years while most others showed figures of 0.1 millisievert or less, they said. The maximum radiation exposure limit for a normal person is 1 millisievert in the span of a year.
''At this point, internal exposure to radiation that comes from a normal daily life is low,'' a city government official told Kyodo News.
Those who underwent the tests by the Minamisoma municipal government were 569 people aged between 15 and 91 as well as 330 elementary and junior high school students. They included people who temporarily evacuated to places outside the city following the March 11 earthquake and tsunami but later returned.
Among residents of Fukushima Prefecture who have so far been tested for internal exposure to radiation at the National Institute of Radiological Sciences in Chiba city under a health survey by the prefectural government, no one was exposed to more than 1 millisievert, according to data released by the institute.