Bahk Eun-ji has been with The Korea Times since 2012, building a career across multiple desks. She began at the Business Desk, where she conducted in-depth interviews with key figures in Korea's corporate world. Later, she moved to the Politics & City Desk, focusing on education policy and social affairs. She later served as team leader of the digital content team, leading curation efforts on the newspaper’s homepage and reshaping print stories for social media audiences to enhance digital reach. Now back on the Politics Desk, she covers the National Assembly and the Ministry of National Defense, with a renewed focus on political developments.
Greenpeace warns of high radiation levels at Olympic venues in Fukushima
Greenpeace radiation survey team investigates radiation levels in Tsushima, Namie exclusion zone, Fukushima Prefecture, Japan, Nov.1, 2019. /Courtesy of Greenpeace
By Bahk Eun-ji
By Bahk Eun-ji
A new survey shows that radiation hot spots are still being found in Fukushima, Japan, which is supposed to be a host of part of the Olympic torch relay and several sporting events this summer, according to Greenpeace, Tuesday.
In its report, “Recontamination and weather-related effects in Fukushima,” Greenpeace said a number of locations recorded significantly higher levels of radiation than average at key Olympic venues in Fukushima Prefecture, despite the Japanese government's efforts to carry out extensive decontamination work since a 2011 tsunami triggered a meltdown at the nuclear power plant there.
The survey, which was conducted over three weeks in October and November last year, found concentrated radiation levels throughout the prefecture. These areas were where radioactivity was observed at higher levels than in previous years.
The Japanese government hopes the Olympic games will be able to demonstrate a complete recovery in the areas devastated by the tsunami that left more than 18,000 people dead or missing. But Greenpeace said the effect of typhoons Hagibis and Bualoi, which deposited large volumes of rain across Japan, including in Fukushima last October, have cause an increased migration of radioactivity from mountainous areas through river systems.
“The mountainous forest regions of Fukushima Prefecture, which were never decontaminated, will continue to be long-term sources of recontamination. The findings from our recent radiation survey definitively disprove the myth of a return to normal in parts of Fukushima.” said Kazue Suzuki, an energy campaigner for Greenpeace Japan.
The Greenpeace research team visited evacuation zones in Namie and Itate, where the Japanese government ordered the return of residents, and said it detected radiation levels of 1.7 microsieverts per hour at 1m above the surface. That compares with the national safety standard of 0.23 microsieverts per hour and a normal reading in Tokyo of around 0.04 microsieverts per hour. Greenpeace said the hotspots showed a reading of 71 microsieverts per hour at surface levels.
“The Japanese government is using the Olympics as a platform to communicate the myth that everything has returned to normal in Fukushima. They falsely claim that radiation has either been decontaminated or is under control. Our radiation survey clearly shows that the government propaganda is not true.” said Shaun Burnie, a senior nuclear specialist at Greenpeace Germany in a statement.
Greenpeace said the hot spots are even being found in downtown Fukushima, despite the government's decontamination efforts.