121023 - fukushima monitoring_final

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  • 7/27/2019 121023 - Fukushima Monitoring_FINAL

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    Official radiation monitoring stations in Fukushima unreliable: Greenpeace

    Tokyo, Japan, October 23, 2012 Following new radioactive contamination checks inFukushima City and the heavily contaminated Iitate(1) last week, Greenpeace has found thatofficial monitoring stations systematically underestimate the radiation risks for the population,and that the Governments decontamination work remains patchy, misdirected, and insufficient,

    with evacuated areas receiving greater attention than heavily populated ones.

    More than 75% of the 40 government monitoring posts checked by Greenpeace in FukushimaCity showed lower radiation levels than their immediate surroundings, with contamination levelswithin 25 metres of the posts up to six times higher than at the posts themselves (2).

    Official monitoring stations are placed in areas the authorities have decontaminated, however,our monitoring shows that just a few steps away the radiation levels rise significantly, said Dr.Rianne Teule, Greenpeace International radiation expert. We fear that these stations give thepublic a false sense of security.

    Decontamination can make a significant difference to radiation levels, but there seems to be

    little progress in the cleanup work, and many hot spots remain throughout Fukushima C ity, saidTeule. Low hanging fruit, such as the decontamination of childrens playgrounds and otherareas needed to protect the most vulnerable, have not progressed sufficiently despite more thana year and a half passing since the triple meltdown at Fukushima Daiichi.

    Greenpeace also checked areas in Iitate, where the government has divided the community intodifferent levels of risk in order to prepare for residents to return after decontamination. Theradiation monitoring team found that the cleanup in the trial decontamination area of Kusanovillage has so far been insufficient, with radiation levels up to 5 microSieverts per hour (uSv/h)recorded in a residential area. Greenpeace also found hotspots of13 uSv/h at a factory that wasallowed to resume operations in September 2012, and 9 uSv/h at the entrance to a nearbyresidence (3).

    In contrast to Fukushima city, we saw many decontamination workers throughout Iitate, butgiven the mountainous and heavily forested nature of the region, these efforts are misguided atbest as the cleanup is very difficult, and the risk of recontamination high, said Kazue Suzuki,Greenpeace Japan nuclear campaigner.

    People cannot return to their lives in Iitate if their homes, businesses or farms arecontaminated. One home or office may be cleaned up, but it is very unlikely that the whole areawill be freed of radiation risks within the next few years, making it very difficult for people torebuild their communities, said Suzuki.

    The Government continues to downplay radiation risks and give false hope to victims of this

    nuclear disaster, when it should be making the sad, but necessarily hard decisions affectedcommunities need to move on with their lives, and compensating them fairly, concluded Suzuki.

    Greenpeace is calling on the National Government to urgently allocate more money andresources to protect public health, and to focus on comprehensively decontaminating heavilypopulated areas, such as Fukushima city, rather than attempting to clean up highlycontaminated, evacuated areas, where decontamination efforts may not prove sufficient.

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    Greenpeace is an independent global campaigning organisation that acts to change attitudesand behaviour, to protect and conserve the environment, and to promote peace.

    Contacts:Greg McNevin, Greenpeace International Communications,[email protected] , +81 80 5416 6507

    Yuki Sekimoto, Greenpeace Japan Communications,[email protected] , +81 80 5088 3048Greenpeace International Press Desk Hotline, Amsterdam +31 20 7182470

    Photo and video of radiation monitoring is available:Greenpeace International Picture Desk,[email protected], +31 6 2900 1152Greenpeace International Video Desk,[email protected], +31 6 4619 7322

    For more on Greenpeaces work in Fukushima, visit:http://www.greenpeace.org/fukushima

    Notes:1) Greenpeace calls for evacuation of Iitate village:http://bit.ly/gTO4HV

    2) Google map and raw data from radiation monitoring:http://www.greenpeace.org/fukushima-data

    3) These figures represent 60 to 160 times normal background levels, pre-Fukushima disaster(0.07Sv per hour).

    All mentioned radiation levels were measured at a height of 1metre above ground.

    In the current situation, people are at risk of being exposed to several times the internationalradiation limit of 1miliSievert (mSv) per year.

    4) Greenpeace letter to the Japanese national Government calling for stronger protective anddecontamination Measures:http://www.greenpeace.org/japan/Global/japan/pdf/110829_Letter_eng.pdf

    Detailed list of demands:http://www.greenpeace.org/japan/Global/japan/pdf/110829_demands_eng.pdf

    mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]://www.greenpeace.org/fukushimahttp://www.greenpeace.org/fukushimahttp://www.greenpeace.org/fukushimahttp://bit.ly/gTO4HVhttp://bit.ly/gTO4HVhttp://bit.ly/gTO4HVhttp://www.greenpeace.org/fukushima-datahttp://www.greenpeace.org/fukushima-datahttp://www.greenpeace.org/fukushima-datahttp://www.greenpeace.org/fukushima-datahttp://www.greenpeace.org/japan/Global/japan/pdf/110829_Letter_eng.pdfhttp://www.greenpeace.org/japan/Global/japan/pdf/110829_Letter_eng.pdfhttp://www.greenpeace.org/japan/Global/japan/pdf/110829_demands_eng.pdfhttp://www.greenpeace.org/japan/Global/japan/pdf/110829_demands_eng.pdfhttp://www.greenpeace.org/japan/Global/japan/pdf/110829_demands_eng.pdfhttp://www.greenpeace.org/japan/Global/japan/pdf/110829_Letter_eng.pdfhttp://www.greenpeace.org/fukushima-datahttp://www.greenpeace.org/fukushima-datahttp://bit.ly/gTO4HVhttp://www.greenpeace.org/fukushimamailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]