In the lead up to the sixth year since the Fukushima Daiichi (referred to by the Japanese as “1F”) nuclear accident, Greenpeace has maintained the irresponsible approach it decided on decades ago with a newly released document.

Courtesy Atomic Insights

The uninformed dread of radiation lies at the heart of the anti-nuclear campaign in general and this document is no different. Simple clear context reveals the fundamental conceit.

Radiocesium-137 — Cs-137 — is the principle gamma emmitting isotope remaining from the airborne release following the accidents in 2011.

When this isotope, or any other, is measured in the environment it is typically corrected for type of radiation (alpha, beta, gamma), internal or external exposure, and other factors. All such measurements are reported in microSieverts for effective hourly dose rates and milliSieverts for annual doses — Sieverts are just energy absorbed by body tissue.

Greenpeace estimates an average annual dose to people in Iitate, 40 km north-west of 1F, of 2.5 milliSieverts, and is alarmed that 10.4 was measured in one house. The report refers to international guidelines for radiation standards and uses careful phrasing to confuse these with health-impacting levels of exposure. On this basis it declares “there clearly remains a radiological emergency within Iitate” and indefinitely compensated residents should not return.

The estimated effective annual dose from living in Espírito Santo, Brazil, and regularly enjoying the black beach of Ariea Preta is 43 milliSieverts. According to this journal article the dose rate is due to isotopes suspended in the air and being breathed in and swallowed. There’s no 6-year evacuation, no calls for indefinite government compensation. There’re no members of environmental NGOs in Tyvek suits scooping up sand for the camera. And there’s no dreadful excess disease burden in residents or visitors.

Image courtesy Trip Advisor Brazil

It is in this context that recent calls to begin a revision of Japan’s radiation standards make absolute sense, and anti-nuclear fearmongering looks exactly like fearmongering.

By pretending to be the authority on Japanese radiation exposure with a narrative of doubt and despair, Greenpeace works to suspend the desperately needed economic recovery of affected regions, and in its own words continues to “cynically and deliberately disregard the interests of tens of thousands of Fukushima citizens.” More broadly, its sustained efforts ensure more fossil fuels are burned in the world’s third largest economy while paying mere lip-service to the damage they wreak.