NHK: Japan Lied About Fukushima Radiation Forecasts To Avoid Panic

New documents show Japan lied about Fukushima nuclear fallout forecasts showing high levels of radiation hitting populated areas and withheld them to avoid panic.

Last year when the Fukushima nuclear fallout first started to blanket Japan the government refused to release radiation forecast data from the SPEEDI system to the public.

Although the system was in place to protect the public in the event of a nuclear catastrophe, the government claimed at the time the forecasts were unreliable predictions and refused repeated requests to release the forecasts claiming they  would only cause unfounded public panic.

New documents just obtained from the Japanese government show that contrary to statements given to the public they knew that the forecasts were in fact reliable.

Not only did the government know the forecasts were fact accurate but the government actually confirmed high levels of radiation predicted by the forecasts by taking actual measurements.

This of course raises concerns about other claims from the government such as the recent ban on foreign Geiger counters because Japan claims are inaccurate and cause panic.

The report also confirms claims last year that radiation forecasts were censored from the public  to avoid panic because they showed high levels of radiation.

NHK reports:

Govt. knew radiation fallout forecast reliable

A report suggests that Japan’s government knew its radiation fallout simulations were reliable, but refused to release the data for more than one month after the nuclear accident in Fukushima.

NHK has obtained the science ministry’s draft report on its responses to the accident, including the handling of the SPEEDI simulation system.

The report says the ministry sent officials to Namie Town, Fukushima Prefecture on March 15th last year based on a forecast by the system on the same day.

Measurements showed that the town located 20 kilometers from the nuclear plant had high levels of radiation — 330 microsieverts per hour.

The ministry did not publicly reveal how it chose the location to test or how it analyzed the radiation levels.

Media outlets had asked the ministry to provide SPEEDI data immediately after the accident began on March 11th. Officials provided data on April 25th.

The ministry argued that the data was only predictions and releasing it could cause public disorder.

The head of a private-sector panel investigating the accident, Koichi Kitazawa, criticized the government for failing to release information soon after it found that its SPEEDI data was reliable.

He says the government should have tried harder to minimize the radiation exposure among people living near the nuclear plant.

Source: NHK

Source: NHK: Japan Lied About Fukushima Radiation Forecasts To Avoid Panic ©
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