Is city exposed to radiation?

Unlike Delhi, no radiation checks at Mumbai airport for passengers travelling from Japan. Are we at risk?

MUMBAIKARS are vulnerable to radiation exposure through passengers and cargo coming into the city from Japan.


Even as masked National Disaster Management Authorityu00a0 personnel have been deployed at the international airport in New Delhi, no such steps have been taken in Mumbai

While extensive screening of passengers, bags, cargo and even aircraft from Japan, which is in the midst of a nuclear meltdown, is being carried out at airports in countries like the United States, Malaysia, South Korea and Taiwan, no such provisions have been made at the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport.

This, despite the countries reporting instances of passengers and cargo being exposed to high levels of radioactivity in the past week.

26 people arriving from the quake-hit country tested positive for unsafe levels of radiation exposure in Taiwan and authorities in South Korea reported unusually high radiation levels on three passengers.

Malaysia, which has been screening air passengers, bags and aircraft since Monday, said it will begin screenings at seaports as well.

In the US, a trace of radiation was found on cargo aboard a United Airlines jetliner from Tokyo on Wednesday, but officials said the amount was not harmful.
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The US Customs and Border Protection said it was monitoring developments in Japan and checking for radiation contamination on aircraft entering the United States.

Official speak

Speaking to MiD DAY, Union Home Secretary G K Pillai said, "The Union Home Ministry has already instructed the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) to carry out extensive screening of passengers flying in from Japan and that similar screening should be done in Kolkata, Bangalore and other airports."

Union Civil Aviation Secretary Naseem Zaidi said in a text message, "NDMA is coordinating with the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre at Mumbai and Delhi for passenger coming directly from Japan.

Ministry of Civil Aviation is providing assistance at airports."
However no such screening is being conducted at any airport in the country except for Delhi, where officials from the NDMA are doing it.

MIAL spokesperson Manish Kalghatgi said, "We provide infrastructure if there are any specific orders released from the Union Health Ministry as was done in case of Swine Flu. However, this time there are no orders till date and so we have not installed the radiation examining devices."

DGCA chief E K Bharat Bhushan said, "Nothing has been issued from our side regarding this.
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I don't know whether the civil aviation or health ministries have issued screening orders" NDMA member J K Bansal told MiD DAY that 587 passengers had been examined by NDMA teams at Delhi airport until yesterday and none of them were found exposed to unsafe levels of radiation.
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"The Atomic Energy Regulatory Board and NDMA are keeping a close eye on developments. However, the screening is likely to be discontinued as none of the passengers were found positive in the past one week," he said.

Home Secretary Pillai, however, said there was no plan of discontinuing the screenings and that they were planning to screen passengers at other major airports as well.



Air India's take

A senior Air India official in Delhi said 1,300 passengers had arrived at Delhi airport from various places in Japan since the quake and 330 more passengers arrived yesterday.

Kamaljit Rattan, Chief Information Officer of Air India, said, "We are carrying only those passengers who have been cleared medically and have been screened for radiation exposure at different airports in Japan.

Screening passengers at airports in India comes under the jurisdiction of the ministries of health and external affairs. I don't want to comment on that."

How it spreads

S K Malhotra explained radiation travels in all directions just like light and its intensity decreases as it travels (see graphic).

The intensity decreases by 100 times if the distance travelled increases. The distance between Japan and India is approximately 6,000 kilometers and radiation will have decreased in intensity by a factor of 3.6 crore if it were to travel here. This does not, however, apply to radioactive materials being carried into India from Japan.

Malhotra clarified that human beings can only be carriers of radioactive materials, which can be a contaminating factor. Radiation is a health hazard and could lead to cancer.

Indian situation
The Indian Environmental Radiation Monitoring Network (IERMON) established by the BARC provide online data on radioactive levels at 28 locations across the country. Officials officials reveal that at present there is no increase in the radiation level above normal background in India.

Nuclear experts say

Dr K P Mishra, former head, Radiation Biology and Health Science Division, BARC, said, "The situation at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant is getting more worrisome with every passing day and it is a known fact that radiation levels in the atmosphere there have gone up to more than one-and-a-half times the permissible level.
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It now becomes advisable for the authorities in India to start screening people coming from Japan for any radiation presence in their body to rule out any adverse consequences and also from the point of view of safety and protection."

S K Malhotra, Head, Public Awareness Division, Department of Atomic Energy, said, "The decision to screen passengers coming from Japan has to be taken by the home and civil aviation ministries.
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We have no role to play unless they have any specific requirement of technical expertise, which we will provide. The department received a letter from NDMA on Thursday, seeking our opinion on the screening of passengers coming from Japan. We have directed them to touch base with the ministries concerned."

R Bhattacharya, secretary, Atomic Energy Regulatory Board, said, "We have received a letter from the NDMA and we have informed them that we are in touch with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and are closely monitoring the situation in Japan.

At this moment, we do not think there is any need for extensive screening at airports. It could become necessary, however, if there is a sudden change in the situation at the Fukushima plant in Japan.

With inputs from Surender Sharma in Delhi