Radiation exceeds recommended level outside evacuation zone
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Radiation at a village outside the evacuation zone has surpassed the recommended level, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said Wednesday.
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Radiation experts at work in Japan [Greecepeace] |
The first assessment of readings at the village of Iitate, some 40 kilometres northwest of the Fukushima No.1 plant, showed that radiation there has exceeded recommended levels by the agency, said Denis Flory, a senior IAEA official.
Currently the Japanese government only asked local residents within 20 kilometers of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant to evacuate.
IAEA officials told the press that the readings were sporadic and registered only at one measuring point and did not say that they were recommending an evacuation.
The IAEA has asked Japan to carefully assess the situation.
The enviromental group Greenpeace said on March 27 that they have detected radiation levels of up to ten micro Sieverts per hour at the Iitate village and urged the Japanese government to expand the evacuation area.
"The Japanese authorities are fully aware that high levels of radiation from the stricken Fukushima nuclear plant have spread far beyond the official evacuation zone to places like Iitate, yet are still not taking action to properly protect people or keep them informed about the risks to their health", said Greenpeace radiation safety expert Jan van de Putte.
"It is clearly not safe for people to remain in Iitate, especially children and pregnant women, when it could mean receiving the maximum allowed annual dose of radiation in only a few days. When further contamination from possible ingestion or inhalation of radioactive particles is factored in, the risks are even higher," he continued.
"The authorities must stop choosing politics over science and determine evacuation zones around the Fukushima nuclear plant that reflect the radiation levels being found in the environment," said Jan van de Putte.
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