Minute amounts of radioactive strontium were detected in Fukushima Prefecture's soil and plants at sites beyond the 30-kilometer zone around the crippled Fukushima Number One nuclear power plant.

Japan’s Kyodo News said Tuesday that the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology studied samples of soil and plants taken from three locations more than 30 kilometers away from the nuclear power plant and found 13 to 260 becquerels of strontium-89 per kilogram and three-point-three to 32 becquerels of strontium-90 per kilogram.

Kyodo said it is the first time that radioactive strontium has been detected since the Fukushima plant began leaking radioactive substances after it was severely damaged by the March eleventh earthquake and tsunami.

The report quoted experts as saying that when strontium enters the human body, it tends to accumulate in bones and is believed to cause bone cancer and leukemia.

While exposure to iodine and cesium tends to lessen in a short period of time, exposure to strontium-90 is likely to last for an extended time, given that it accumulates in bones and has a half-life of 18 years.