Atomic Bomb Scientists to Study Effects From Reactor Explosion

The Japanese research center that’s studied atomic bomb survivors for 35 years will send scientists to monitor the health effects of an explosion at a nuclear reactor in Fukushima.

An initial team comprising two medical researchers from the Radiation Effects Research Foundation may leave as early as this week, Evan Douple, the foundation’s associate chief of research, said in a telephone interview today. Additional researchers may follow, he said. The team will measure radiation and collaborate with health officials to better understand the ramifications of any radiation exposure on human health.

The radioactivity measured at a building housing Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s Fukushima Dai-Ichi No. 3 reactor, where an explosion occurred earlier today, was less than 2 percent of the level known to be detrimental to people, Hidehiko Nishiyama, deputy director-general of Japan’s Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency, said in Tokyo.

The Radiation Effects Research Foundation in Hiroshima was established in 1975 to study the medical effects of radiation.