Aide to Japan PM quits over radiation limits

"Al Jazeera's correspondent, Divya Gopalan, reporting from Tokyo, said the expert criticised the government’s handling of the crisis and said their action was knee-jerk.

Kosako said he could not stay on and allow the government to set what he said were improper radiation limits for elementary schools near the crippled plant.

Our correspondent said: 'The expert was particularly critical of the government’s nuclear radiation exposure limit. His biggest attack was the government limit for children, which he said was 20 times too high in Fukushima Prefecture.

'He said the radiation limit for children should have been much lower as they are being exposed to radiation, and that his recommendations were ignored.' " Al Jazeera

800 protest Flamanville reactor April 23 in Normandy

Marking the 25 years since the Chernobyl catastrophe, Didier and Paulette Anger, of the Normandy anti-nuclear group, CRILAN, organized a rally near the Flamanville nuclear site where a new EPR reactor is under construction. An estimated 800 people rallied near the site, followed by an enormous water truck that activists used, "dousing" symbolic reactor flames with buckets of water.

Update on April 28, 2011 by admin

1,000 also demonstrated outside the Brennilis reactor in Brittany, the oldest in France.

Australian Aboriginal leader expresses solidarity with people of Fukushima

Yvonne Margarula, the clan leader, or senior traditional owner of the Mirrar people in Australia, has written to UN Secretary General, Ban Ki Moon expressing solidarity with and empathy for the people affected by the nuclear disaster in Fukushima, Japan, In her letter, Margarula expresses sorrow that the uranium that was used in the Fukushima reactors was mined on the land of the Mirrar. The Mirrar have been confronting and opposing deadly uranium mining on their lands for many years. In particular, they are still battling the proposed Jabiluka uranium mine potentially destined for their land and are already subject to the impacts of the enormous Ranger Uranium Mine, also situated on traditional land owned by the Mirrar people. Read Margarula's letter here.

ACTION NEEDED: sign petition to STOP increased radiation exposure to children in Fukushima

From the petition: "We urgently demand the withdrawal of the Japanese Government’s inhumane decision to force 20mSv per year radiation exposure onto children.

"On April 19th, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) notified the Board of Education and related institutions in Fukushima Prefecture the level of 20 millisieverts per year (mSv/y) as a Radiation Safety Standard for schools in Fukushima Prefecture. This is the standard to be used for school grounds and buildings.

"...The Labour Standards Act prohibits those under the age of 18 from working under these conditions. Forcing children to be exposed to such radiation doses is an exceedingly inhumane decision. Therefore, we condemn this in the strongest terms.

"20 mSv/y is comparable to the [legally] recognized dose for inducing leukemia in nuclear power plant workers. It is also comparable to the maximum dose allowed for nuclear power plant workers in Germany." Also see the Japan Federation of Bar Associations statement opposing this level of radiation exposure. Beyond Nuclear has released a press statement today.  Sign the petition.

UPDATE 1-Q+A-What's going on at Japan's damaged nuclear power plant?

"Japanese engineers are struggling to gain control of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, 240 km (150 miles) north of Tokyo, which was seriously damaged by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami.

Two of the six reactors at the plant, operated by Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO), are considered stable but the other four are volatile." Reuters