Fukushima Radiation Won't Raise Cancer Risks: Report

Fallout from Japan's Fukushima nuclear power plant disaster back in 2011 is unlikely to lead to a rise in cancer cases in the approaching years, according to United Nations (UN) scientific officials.

The United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation (UNSCEAR) has just released a detailed report on the risks of the radiation exposure that resulted from fires and flooding at the Fukishima, Daiichi nuclear power plant. The fires and damage to the plant occurred after Japan was stuck by a magnitude 9 earthquake and a tsunami back in 2011.

Concerns had been that the resulting radiation exposure, especially in children, would lead to a rampant rise in cancers rates in later years, much like with the Chernobyl, Russia nuclear plant meltdown back in 1986.

However, according to the UNSCEAR report, sufficient evacuation and containment measures were taken by the Japanese government so that that radioactive exposure levels remained well under what international health officials and scientists would deem threatening even to long-term health.

According to the report, children who may have been exposed to radiation levels that may lead to a small-but-noticeable increase in risk of thyroid cancer number under an estimated 1000 Japanese.

While this is not exactly welcome news, it is far smaller than anything that pessimistic experts were expecting and means that the great majority of the country's citizens remain perfectly safe.

According to past report by the UN, the Fukishima Diachii nuclear disaster alone resulted in an estimated 160, 000 people from their homes, and they lives in close proximity to the power plant. The report attributes fast and effective radioactive material containment methods to explain why these evacuated citizens faced minimal and harmless exposure, if any at all.

The 2013 UNSCEAR report was released to the public on April 2.

© MD News Daily.