Feature story - March 28, 2011
Greenpeace responds to accusations that our radiation level readings are 'unreliable'.
Greenpeace Radiation Monitoring Team Finds Radiation Limits 'Far Above' Recommended Limits
Greenpeace radiation safety experts monitor contamination levels at Iitate village, 20km beyond the official evacuation zone. They found dadiation levels far above internationally recommended limits. A Japanese government spokesman has referred to the findings as 'unreliable'.
Earlier today Japanese government spokesman, Mr. Nishimura, said that Greenpeace’s radiation data from Iidate village, 40km from the crisis-ridden Fukushima nuclear plant, “could not be considered reliable”, and that most people had already voluntarily left the town of Iitate.
These statements come after Greenpeace published findings of radiation levels of up to ten micro Sieverts per hour in Iitate village, 40km northwest of the crisis-stricken Fukushima/Daiichi nuclear plant. This villiage is 20km beyond the official evacuation zone, and the radiation levels found there are high enough to require evacuation.
The bizarre thing is that Greenpeace's findings do not actually conflict with what the government had been reporting, so it's strange that the government considers them 'unreliable'.
“Our data in fact confirm that of the Government’s own monitoring from the same area. There is no question over the authenticity or veracity of the radiation measurements nor the very real threat they pose to people living in the area.”
“Where we differ with the Japanese government is on the action needed to protect people from the Fukushima crisis. Contamination levels in Iitate are high enough to require evacuation from the area, especially children and pregnant women. Remaining in Iitate for just a few days could mean receiving the maximum permissible annual dose of radiation”.
“Claims by the government that the Fukushima crisis had prompted most people to voluntarily leave Iitate are also false – a small proportion of people did leave, but the rest remain, living their daily lives”.
“The Japanese authorities must stop playing politics with peoples' health, they must determine evacuation zones around the Fukushima nuclear plant that reflect the radiation levels being found in the environment. In addition to coming clean on the true dangers of the current nuclear crisis, the smartest move for Japan, and governments around the world, is to heavily invest in energy efficiency, and redouble their efforts to harness safe and secure renewable energy sources.”