tokai

Tokaimura, Oct 4, 1999 - A public road close to the scene of last Thursday's nuclear accident in Japan has been reopened despite levels of radiation remaining well above background levels.

The Genken Road was reopened to the public after Chief Secretary to the Cabinet, Hiromu Nonaka stated: "We have confirmed that the radiation levels, even in the area 350 metres from the plant have returned to normal."

But measurements taken by a Greenpeace team on Sunday revealed levels of radioactivity to be five times background levels.

Commenting on the nuclear accident today at the Tokai uranium processing plant in Japan, Greenpeace said:

"The Japanese nuclear accident is a deadly reminder of the inescapable dangers of nuclear power."

"Japanese grasp of technology is world reknowned and second to none. But when it comes to nuclear power they are in the same boat as the operators of Windscale, Three Mile Island and Chernobyl. Mixing human fallibility and nuclear physics is not worth the risk."