Sponsored Links

Japan nuclear accident health risk still small-WHO

Related Topics

GENEVA, April 12 | Tue Apr 12, 2011 11:46am EDT

GENEVA, April 12 (Reuters) - The risk to public health from Japan's nuclear accident is no worse after a change in the disaster's status on Tuesday, the World Health Organization said.

"Our public health assessment is the same today as it was yesterday," WHO spokesman Gergory Hartl told Reuters. "At the moment there is very little public health risk outside the 30-kilometre (evacuation) zone".

The higher severity rating was the result of combining the amounts of radiation leaking from three reactors and counting them as a single incident, he said.

(Reporting by Stephanie Nebehay and Andrew Callus; Editing by Angus MacSwan)

Financials
Utilities
We welcome comments that advance the story through relevant opinion, anecdotes, links and data. If you see a comment that you believe is irrelevant or inappropriate, you can flag it to our editors by using the report abuse links. Views expressed in the comments do not represent those of Reuters. For more information on our comment policy, see http://blogs.reuters.com/fulldisclosure/2010/09/27/toward-a-more-thoughtful-conversation-on-stories/
Comments (1)
gzuckier wrote:
“Japan ranked its nuclear crisis at the highest possible severity on an international scale — the same level as the 1986 Chernobyl disaster — even as it insisted Tuesday that radiation leaks are declining at its tsunami-crippled nuclear plant.

The higher rating is an open acknowledgement of what was widely understood already: The nuclear accident at the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant is the second-worst in history. It does not signal a worsening of the plant’s status in recent days or any new health dangers.

Still, people living nearby who have endured a month of spewing radiation and frequent earthquakes said the change in status added to their unease despite government efforts to play down any notion that the crisis poses immediate health risks.

Miyuki Ichisawa closed her coffee shop this week when the government added her community, Iitate village, and four others to places people should leave to avoid long-term radiation exposure. The additions expanded the 12-mile (20-kilometer) zone where people had already been ordered to evacuate soon after the March 11 tsunami swamped the plant.”
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/top/all/7518148.html

Apr 12, 2011 2:42pm EDT  --  Report as abuse
This discussion is now closed. We welcome comments on our articles for a limited period after their publication.
See All Comments »