Greenpeace: Radiation in Fukushima schools still unsafe after clean-up
By Natalia Konstantinovskaya; Editing by Chang-Ran Kim and Chris Gallagher
29 August 2011 TOKYO (Reuters) – The environmental group took samples at and near three schools in Fukushima city, well outside the 20 km exclusion zone from Tokyo Electric Power’s stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear complex in Japan’s northeast. “No parent should have to choose between radiation exposure and education for their child,” said Kazue Suzuki, Greenpeace Japan’s anti-nuclear project head. The government had already taken steps to decontaminate schools in Fukushima prefecture, where the crippled plant has been leaking radiation since it was hit by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami. Calling the measures “deplorably late and inadequate,” Greenpeace said it had found average dose rates above the maximum allowed under international standards, of 1 millisievert per year, or 0.11 microsievert per hour. Japan’s education ministry on Friday set a looser standard, allowing up to 1 microsievert per hour of radiation in schools. Greenpeace said that inside a high school it tested, the reading was 0.5 microsievert per hour, breaching international standards even after the government’s clean-up. At a staircase connecting a school playground to the street, it found radiation amounting to 7.9 microsieverts per hour, or about 70 times the maximum allowed, exceeding even Japan’s own standard. Greenpeace urged the government to delay reopening the schools as planned on September 1 after the summer break and relocate children in the most affected cities until decontamination was complete. Fukushima city dismissed Greenpeace’s calls, saying the schools were safe under the government’s norms. “We’re finished decontaminating the schools, and they no longer have high radiation levels,” city official Yoshimasa Kanno said. He added that postponing the opening of more than 100 schools in the city based on Greenpeace’s findings of “only three” would be unreasonable. Despite the government’s reassurances, parents have removed thousands of children from schools in Fukushima since the disasters, fearing damage to their health. […]
