Two Greenpeace radiation
monitoring teams are now hard at work outside
the Fukushima evacuation zone: one investigating
health threats and testing food and milk,
while the other is looking at surface contamination.
I'm posting some team
bios. Results and updates from the team
are here. And you can follow the whole unfolding
story via our main Fukushima page.
Still no evacuation
for Iitate
Following our first monitoring team’s radiation
findings, we called on the Japanese government
to evacuate the contaminated areas outside
the official zone, after confirming the
authorities radiation data for the town
of Iitate, which is 40km from the devastated
Fukushima nuclear plant and 20km outside
the official evacuation zone. Staying in
Iitate for just a few days could mean exposure
to the annual allowable dose of radiation.
On Sunday March 27th,
our first team measured radiation of between
7 and 10 microsievert per hour in the town
of Iitate, which is high enough to require
evacuation – the maximum allowable accumulated
annual dose for members of the public is
1000 microsieverts. The levels detected
refer to external radiation, and do not
take into account the further risks such
of ingestion or inhalation.
Our team’s findings
confirmed those by the Fukushima Prefectural
Government for Iitate, and those of the
International Atomic Energy Agency.
The government has yet
to call for an evacuation.
A need for independent
monitoring
Recent reports that Japan's government withheld
information about radiation risks outside
the evacuation zone add to the urgency our
field team faces to supply accurate, independent
information to local communities.
According to NHK:
It has been learned
that the Japanese government withheld the
release of computer projections indicating
high levels of radioactivity in areas more
than 30 kilometers from the troubled Fukushima
Daiichi nuclear power plant.
The estimates showed
that the radiation would exceed 100 millisieverts
in some areas more than 30 kilometers from
the nuclear plant if people remained outdoors
for 24 hours between March 12th and 24th.
That is 100 times higher
than the 1 millisievert-per-year long-term
reference level for humans as recommended
by the International Commission on Radiological
Protection.
+ More
Field team finds high
levels of contamination outside of Fukushima
evacuation zone
Our radiation monitoring
teams have discovered high levels of contamination
in crops grown on the outskirts of Minamisoma
city in Japan. The data was collected from
the gardens of Minamisoma city residents,
and registered well over the official limits
for spinach and other vegetables. This is
bad news amid already serious concerns over
the health risks to residents and a lack
of official information from Japanese government.
“In several Minamisoma
gardens, the vegetables were too contaminated
for consumption,” reports Rianne Teule,
who is leading our food testing team. “The
owner of one garden with contaminated spinach
told us that she had received no information
from authorities on the radiation risks
to her crops, despite reports that government
tests on plants in Minamisoma have been
underway since March 18.”
The government has been
publishing raw data from its own field monitoring.
However, its assessment is far from comprehensive.
Measurements taken by our radiation team
in several parts of Minamisoma city show
levels of up to 4.5 microSievert per hour,
as opposed to the relatively low levels
of 0.7 microSievert per hour recorded at
the only official monitoring point in Minamisoma
City.
While the Japanese government’s
data might not be incorrect, it doesn’t
actually give the public the full picture,
nor does it adequately protect the health
of people in Minamisoma. The people in Minamisoma
have been advised to stay indoors or told
they can leave on a voluntary basis. However,
our measurements, which were taken between
government monitoring points, show levels
of contamination that indicate a risk to
health and safety.
Our field monitoring
team met with the Mayor of Minamisoma, Katsunobu
Sakurai. He expressed his frustration, citing
a lack of reliable information or clear
advice from TEPCO and the authorities regarding
risks this crisis poses to his community.
“TEPCO has been irresponsible.
This was clearly demonstrated when it took
11 days for it to speak to us after the
accident. The government has also not supplied
us with any kind of report that we can understand,”
said Sakurai. “We are asking the government
to not only supply enough information about
what has happened, but also that it guarantee
that it will respond responsibly to possible
future risks.”
But inconsistencies
with the goverments measurements are not
just in Minamisoma. The field radiation
team recorded data near the village of Tsushima,
outside the 30km voluntary evacuation zone,
and also found contamination levels of up
to 47 microsieverts per hour, compared to
the 32.7 reported by the authorities. This
means the people of Tsushima could achieve
maximum allowable dose for a year in under
24 hours.
There continues to be
an urgent need not only for reliable data
from Japan's government, but also meaningful
interpretation and advice about the risks
of radioactive contamination in food and
the environment. The people affected by
this disaster must be able to protect both
their health and their livelihoods the best
they can.
We are calling on the
authorities to re-evaluate the evacuation
zone around the Fukushima nuclear plant.
We are commited to providing
independant data, and will continue to collect
radiation data outside of the evacuation
zone near Fukushima and report those findings
publically.
Have a look at the map
of locations and radiation readings compiled
by the radiation team, and keep an eye on
our main Fukushima page for updates.
+ More
Update from the field
radiation team
It’s nearly three weeks
since we started the second part of the
radiation monitoring work in Japan’s Fukushima
Prefecture. It was an extremely intensive
and exhaustive experience, but also one
of the most motivating operations I've been
involved in - and I’m sure the rest of the
team agrees with me.
It was motivating because spending time
in the Fukushima area and bearing witness
to the impacts of the horrifying accident
with our own eyes made us so angry - angry
at the nuclear industry whose lies are being
believed by so many, whose short-sighted
self-interest is sickening. People in the
area are exposed to the impacts of nuclear
radiation often without being made aware
by TEPCO or the authorities. We found radioactively
contaminated vegetables with levels up to
75 times over the limits for consumption
- even the growers have not even been warned
against eating their crops! By providing
information on simple protective measures
(like: please don’t eat the vegetables from
your garden) to the population in affected
areas, the government could easily prevent
significant radiation risks to the public.
Our testing of total
activity in food and soil samples raised
serious concerns about food and soil contamination.
It is clear that additional protection measures
are needed to safeguard consumers, but also
to ensure that no additional damage it done
to farmers. Long-term contamination of soil
can have serious impacts on the region's
economy, and measures should be taken as
soon as possible to support the farmers
and protect their livelihoods.
Last Monday, we had
the opportunity to present our findings
at the Foreign Correspondents Club of Japan
in Tokyo, where we were joined by about
100 journalists and scientists who listened
to our briefing and asked us many detailed
questions. Our call for action was heard,
and our independent assessment is clearly
highly appreciated. Greenpeace has a very
important role to play following this disaster,
supporting the Japanese public and providing
the so much needed independent assessments.
But of course it is Japan’s government who
should take immediate action to protect
its people from radiation impacts, and clean
up or evacuate high-risk areas.
