Tokyo, 12 March, 2011 – Reacting to reports that radioactive materials including the isotope Cesium-137 have been released from the Fukushima power plant, and that increased levels of radiation have been detected in the immediate vicinity, Jan Beranek, Head of Greenpeace International Nuclear Campaign said:
“Our thoughts continue to be with the Japanese people as they face the threat of a nuclear disaster, following already devastating earthquake and tsunami. The authorities must focus on keeping people safe, and avoiding any further releases of radioactivity”.
“The evolving situation at Fukushima remains far from clear, but what we do know is that contamination from the release of Cesium-137 poses a significant health risk to anyone exposed. Cesium-137 has been one if the isotopes causing the greatest health impacts following the Chernobyl disaster, because it can remain in the environment and food chain for 300 years.”
“Fukushima remains under threat of a serious reactor meltdown; this would potentially create an iodine cloud, which could spread high radiation levels to both the environment and population over many tens of kilometres. By simply communicating to local populations the importance of staying indoors, the government could limit potential radiation doses from this cloud by a factor 2 to 5.”
“How many more warnings do we before we finally grasp that nuclear reactors are inherently hazardous? The nuclear industry always tells us that situation like this cannot happen with modern reactors, yet Japan is currently in the middle of a potentially devastating nuclear crisis. Once again, we are reminded of the inherent risks of nuclear power, which will always be vulnerable to the potentially deadly combination of human error, design failure and natural disaster.”
“Greenpeace is calling for the phase out of existing reactors, and no construction of new commercial nuclear reactors. Governments should invest in renewable energy resources that are not only environmentally sound but also affordable and reliable”.
雖然福島的核洩漏意外情況仍然不明朗，但從核電廠釋放的元素銫-137會對人體造成嚴重的健康影響。這種元素也是導致切爾諾貝爾核電廠大量傷亡的元素之一，並會在環境及食物鍊殘留三百年。
福島仍受著反應堆熔解的威脅，明前仍未確認核電廠已渡過危機，放射性物質若不幸從反應堆泄漏，有可能形成「碘雲」，並透過此向週邊數十公里的環境以致人類、散發高濃度的核幅射。如果人留在室內的話，則可以減低2至5倍的影響。
綠色和平項目主任古偉牧呼籲繼續市民留意今次事件， 期望更多意外的細節向外公布。「今次事件充分說明核電的危險，和核電科技的脆弱，香港市民短期內仍應留意事件可能導致的輻射污染情況。」綠色和平又要求環境局立即停止為香港增加核電的計劃，以避免同樣意外在區內發生。