title: Reducing radiation exposure using commonly available objects.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  One and a half years have passed since the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant disaster. The environmental radiation dose rate was not critical, but an existing exposure situation has been identified in a large part of Fukushima Prefecture. Although people continue to live and work in the contaminated area, they are not provided with sufficient information to reduce their exposure to radiation by themselves. In this study, we attempt to evaluate the efficiency of radiation shielding by using everyday items widely available to people.
  
  
  METHODS
  NaI scintillation and Geiger-Müller survey meters were used to measure the radiation dose of (1) contaminated soil and (2) soil covered with commonly available items.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In the soil at a depth of 10 cm from the surface, the radiation dose rate decreased from 3.36 to 0.65 μSv/h, and the count rate decreased from 3,120 to 352 cpm. Both the radiation dose rate and count rate reduced when the soil was covered with everyday items, such as a magazine more than 20 mm thick, a polystyrene foam board, and a wooden board of the same thickness.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  To protect residents from unnecessary radiation exposure in the existing exposure situation, covering contaminated soil with a wooden board or a magazine, either of them 20 mm thick, is useful to reduce the radiation dose.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cellular and Integrative Physiology, School of Medicine, Fukushima Medical University, 1 Hikarigaoka, Fukushima 960-1295, Japan. coba@fmu.ac.jp
authors.forename: Daisuke
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Kobayashi
authors.forename: Masao
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Miyake
authors.forename: Takeyasu
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kakamu
authors.forename: Masayoshi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tsuji
authors.forename: Yayoi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Mori
authors.forename: Tetsuhito
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Fukushima
authors.forename: Akihiro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hazama
mesh_terms: D004781:Environmental Exposure / Q000517:prevention & control*; D062406:Fukushima Nuclear Accident; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan; D011829:Radiation Dosage; D011834:Radiation Monitoring; D011835:Radiation Protection / Q000379:methods*; D011874:Radiometry; D012588:Scintillation Counting; D012990:Soil Pollutants, Radioactive / Q000032:analysis*
chemical_list: D012990:Soil Pollutants, Radioactive