Ningbo port intercepts contaminated metal

The coastal city of Ningbo has intercepted 9.26 tons of scrap metal that was contaminated with radioactive material in Japan's nuclear crisis last year, CCTV reported on Monday.

The report counters an online claim that more than 1,000 tons of the contaminated metal had arrived in the port city.

The metal, along with an additional 1,117 tons of non-contaminated scrap metal that was in the same shipment, has been sent back to Japan.

The report said that the radiation level in the metal is about 28 percent higher than the level allowed by China, contradicting the online post that said the radiation was 200 percent higher than the permitted national level.

According to the State television network the metal, imported by Ningbo Huanjin Recycling Metal Co Ltd from Japan's Taiwa Trade Co Ltd, arrived at the port city on May 13. It was intercepted by Ningbo Entry-Exit Inspection and Quarantine Bureau and shipped back to Japan on June 23.

A Chinese official at the Taiwa Trade Co Ltd dismissed the possibility that the company intended to ship the contaminated metal to China, citing a national program in Japan to collect such products, CCTV reported.

The official told the television that the scrap was collected from areas around Chiba, a sub-national jurisdiction in the greater Tokyo area and a long way from Northeast Japan, which was jolted by a tsunami that caused the deadly nuclear crisis.

The contaminated metal might come from dismantled auto parts from Fukushima area and slip through the screening, he added.