Traces of radioactive iodine were detected in the air above Seoul and seven other cities in South Korea with small amounts of radioactive cesium found in six, a state nuclear safety body said Sunday.
A day earlier, the Korean Institute of Nuclear Safety (KINS) said traces of radioactive iodine-131, cesium-137 and cesium-134 had been
discovered at all of the 12 monitoring stations across the country.
KINS said the latest detection was based on the analysis of air samples taken from the 12 monitoring sites from 10 a.m. Friday through 10 a.m. Saturday.
The highest concentration of iodine-131 discovered in Gangneung, 237 kilometers east of Seoul, reached 0.226 millibecquerels (mBq) per
cubic meter, well below levels harmful to humans, KINS said.
The regulatory body said the top cesium-137 level detected in Gangneung amounted to 0.681 mBq per cubic meter, also far below the permissible limit.
KINS said radioactive materials were not detected in rainwater collected in Gangneung on Saturday morning.
The institute has been announcing the results of radioactive materials detected at the 12 monitoring centers since late March.
Seoul first confirmed the existence of radioactive particles in the air on March 30, more than two weeks after the Fukushima nuclear power
plant released radioactive particles into the environment.
All concentration levels detected so far in South Korea have been determined negligible.