Embassy Updates on the Nuclear Crisis in Fukushima

Yesterday afternoon (JST), Professor John Beddington, Chief Scientific Officer for the UK government, officially stated that Tokyo was entirely safe from the threat of radiation, even in a worst-case scenario.

The UK embassy in Tokyo confirmed that there was no threat outside of the immediate vicinity of Fukushima.

A statement released this morning by the US embassy in tokyo agrees with the above and confirms it sees no threat beyond the 20km exclusion zone.

The French embassy in Tokyo will get back to you as soon as they stop running for their lives.

Filed under: Japan

6 comments

  1. Denys: the good thing about predicting the apocalypse at every hiccup, is that nobody will blame you too much when it doesn’t happen. And on the off-chance that you are eventually right once, everybody will overlook your pathetically low record of accurate predictions to focus on the one correct one.
    Entire fields of “expertise” are based around that “broken clocks are right twice a day” concept.

  2. It looks clear now that Professor John Beddington and consor is irresponsible to say the least.

  3. David: I really fail to see how Prof. Beddington, then or now, could be considered irresponsible by any stretch. Not only has he been fully vindicated, 2 months later (Tokyo is as safe as it ever was, despite the nuclear situation following a more or less worst-case scenario), but you could make the argument that the irresponsible people were those that spread ridiculous rumours based on no scientific basis other than “just all get the hell out of this island before you die”… Panic has a cost too.

  4. Sure but there is probably a way between panic/chaos and deny.
    Actually I was not accurate in my reply. I am not sure about Prof Beddington s statement accuracy but what I was more shocked at is the position of the UK and US embassy at this time stating that there is not threat whatsoever outside of the 20km evacuation perimeter.
    I believe it is now accepted by all parties that there is a real hazard for people living much further than that.(Iitate among others)
    I agree to some extend with those saying that people who are still over there not because they cannot leave but because they have no idea of the situation are responsible for themselves because they should seek information by themselves, but on the other side when officials lie about the risks it is hard to blame them.

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