Initial findings from the Rainbow Warrior radiation sampling team working off the coast of Japan are in and the news is not good.

The results showed levels of contamination far beyond allowed limits for seaweed.

Contaminated seaweed could become a threat as fishermen along the coast will begin harvesting the seaweed to sell for public consumption in the coming weeks. As both TEPCO’s sediment samples and our own preliminary research shows, radioactive contamination is accumulating in the marine ecosystem that provides Japan with a quarter of its seafood, yet the authorities are still doing the very little to protect public health. We are calling on the authorities to start comprehensive radiation testing of seaweed along the Fukushima coast.

We are also now conducting detailed analysis of fish, seawater, and seaweed collected outside of Japan’s 12 mile territorial waters, as well as fish, shellfish and seaweed samples collected from the Fukushima coast. Selections of samples have been sent to independent laboratories for further analysis. Watch this space for full results in the next week.

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As part of the radiation team, we traveled from place to place – sampling soil and vegetables, taking radiation readings and speaking with people affected by the crisis in Japan.

We heard many stories about the loss people are facing in their homes, families and their livelihoods. This week, I met a beautiful old lady at a refugee camp in Yonezawa, deep snow country in the north part of Japan. She was living in Namie Town, near where the Fukushima nuclear plant is located. It is the middle of nowhere, a very rural area for rice and cows.

Setsuko Yamamoto was 81 years old and living alone, had just lost her husband, Takeshi one month ago at 90 years old. They were married more than 60 years ago, before the nuclear plants came to Japan. Since then, they have been living in very small house in Namie Town with small rice field.

When the huge earthquake hit, she felt very happy because she thought she would go to heaven and join her husband. She held her husband’s remains as the earthquake shook their house, and prayed for a happy death and to go to heaven.

But, her prayers were not answered as she was rescued by her neighbors. For her, it was then that the nightmare came to her life. She had to escape the destruction of the earthquake, the Tsunami, and now the nuclear crisis. She has moved four times now, from refugee camp to refugee camp, in search of a safe place.

And now, she has lost everything. She can never return home because of high radiation that will last “forever.” She has limited time left in her life and little to dream for. She said to me with smile: ”I lost the chance to go to heaven with my husband,” and I saw her deep sorrow through her smile.

Mitsuyasu Oda – Translation, communications and community liason for the field team in Japan

Image – Children sleep in an evacuation centre in Yonezawa, 100km from the stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant © Markel Redondo / Greenpeace

View Map of Radiation Measurements by Greenpeace team in a larger map

Our field radiation monitoring teams have wrapped up a second round of data collection outside of the exclusion zone that surrounds the stricken Fukushima nuclear complex: one investigating health threats and testing food and milk and the other is looking at surface contamination. Based on the radiation levels found, we are calling for the greater Fukushima area to be given official protective status and for the evacuation of pregnant women and children from high risk areas in Fukushima City and Koriyama.

Evacuation Zone Expanded

Just hours after our field radiation team held a press conference calling for further evacuation around Fukushima, the Japanese government announced that it will extend the mandatory evacuation zone around the stricken nuclear plant to 30km and evacuate the contaminated towns of Namie, Iitate and parts of Minamisoma within one month.

After extended data collection around Fukushima, our field radiation monitoring teams called for the greater Fukushima area to be given official protective status and for the evacuation of pregnant women and children from high risk areas in Fukushima City and Koriyama.

We welcome the announcement of the extention of the evacuation zone however we are still calling on the authorities to focus on long term contamination in other populated areas.

“We welcome the decision by Japan’s government to evacuate areas outside the initial Fukushima 20km zone, however it needs to keep making decisive action to protect people from the contamination risks created by the Fukushima/Daiichi crisis,” said Rianne Teule, radiation expert and radiation field monitoring team leader. “A month has gone by since this crisis began, yet many people in the region have still not received clear information about the risks they face. The government’s next move should be protect the more than 1 million people living in the greater Fukushima City and Koriyama area, by declaring an official protective status.”

Greenpeace is calling for the greater Fukushima area to be given an official protective status, for comprehensive food and soil testing to be undertaken, and for the evacuation of pregnant women and children from radiation hotspots in Fukushima City and Koriyama.

Our radiation monitoring teams have discovered high levels of contamination in crops grown on the outskirts of Minamisoma city in Japan.

The data was collected from the gardens of Minamisoma city residents, and registered well over the official limits for spinach and other vegetables.

This is bad news amid already serious concerns over the health risks to residents and a lack of official information from Japanese government.

“In several Minamisoma gardens, the vegetables were too contaminated for consumption,” reports Rianne Teule, who is leading our food testing team. “The owner of one garden with contaminated spinach told us that she had received no information from authorities on the radiation risks to her crops, despite reports that government tests on plants in Minamisoma have been underway since March 18.”

The government has been publishing raw data from its own field monitoring. However, its assessment is far from comprehensive. Measurements taken by our radiation team in several parts of Minamisoma city show levels of up to 4.5 microSievert per hour, as opposed to the relatively low levels of 0.7 microSievert per hour recorded at the only official monitoring point in Minamisoma City.

While the Japanese government’s data might not be incorrect, it doesn’t actually give the public the full picture, nor does it adequately protect the health of people in Minamisoma. The people in Minamisoma have been advised to stay indoors or told they can leave on a voluntary basis. However, our measurements, which were taken between government monitoring points, show levels of contamination that indicate a risk to health and safety.

Our field monitoring team met with the Mayor of Minamisoma, Katsunobu Sakurai. He expressed his frustration, citing a lack of reliable information or clear advice from TEPCO and the authorities regarding risks this crisis poses to his community.

“TEPCO has been irresponsible. This was clearly demonstrated when it took 11 days for it to speak to us after the accident. The government has also not supplied us with any kind of report that we can understand,” said Sakurai. “We are asking the government to not only supply enough information about what has happened, but also that it guarantee that it will respond responsibly to possible future risks.”

But inconsistencies with the goverments measurements are not just in Minamisoma. The field radiation team recorded data near the village of Tsushima, outside the 30km voluntary evacuation zone, and also found contamination levels of up to 47 microsieverts per hour, compared to the 32.7 reported by the authorities. This means the people of Tsushima could achieve maximum allowable dose for a year in under 24 hours.

There continues to be an urgent need not only for reliable data from Japan’s government, but also meaningful interpretation and advice about the risks of radioactive contamination in food and the environment. The people affected by this disaster must be able to protect both their health and their livelihoods the best they can.

We are calling on the authorities to re-evaluate the evacuation zone around the Fukushima nuclear plant.

We are commited to providing independant data, and will continue to collect radiation data outside of the evacuation zone near Fukushima and report those findings publically.

Have a look at the map of locations and radiation readings compiled by the radiation team, and keep an eye on our main Fukushima page for updates.

For days we’ve heard conflicting reports about the safety of radiation levels in the food and water in Japan.

Just a few days ago, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government stated that radiation levels had decreased in the city. However, reports released on Wednesday cited the detection of radioactivity in the Tokyo water and warned with levels of radiation reaching twice the recommended limit, infants should not be given tap water.

The Japanese authorities have also started reporting on the contamination levels found in 11 different vegetables. In many vegetables, such as broccoli and cabbage, from the Fukushima prefecture – the most contaminated area – the radioactivity levels exceeded safety limits set by the Ministery of Food and Safety.

In Motomiya, 50 km East of the plant, the Caesium -137 concentration in ”kukitachina” leaves was detected to be 164 times the accepted limit. The government called on consumers to avoid eating all eleven vegetables and all food exports from the contaminated areas have been banned.

This alarming rise in reports of radioactive contamination in Japan’s food chain and water supply demonstrates that the government’s constant reassurances and downplaying of the Fukushima nuclear crisis and risks public health are at best unreliable. The way to avoid this risk again is for governments around the world invest in energy efficiency and to redouble their efforts to harness safe and secure renewable energy sources. Learn more about the Energy [R]evolution!

Further information: To help you decipher the complex information around radiation and health we have created a radiation guide covering effects, safety and basics of the Fukushima 1 radiation releases.