Questions are being raised about the accuracy of the government’s contamination data for the area around the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant.  

“We believe it is dangerous for people still living in highly contaminated areas,” said Hajime Matsukubo, a spokesman for the Tokyo-based Citizens’ Nuclear Information Center (CNIC).

He points to independent studies indicating that people in Fukushima and Koriyama – cities well beyond the exclusion zone imposed by the government – are still exposed to high levels of radioactivity.

“The level of a 1 millisievert dose per year, which has been set by the International Commission on Radiological Protection, is the result of a lot of research,” Matsukubo said. “And even if the risk is not so high, people from the Fukushima Prefecture should not have to accept that.”