Greenpeace International has actively documented the unfolding Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster since the accident occurred in March 2011. Greenpeace has released an important report on the occasion of the 10th year anniversary of an ongoing accident that is far from ‘resolved’.

The report is based on a series of investigations into the radiological consequences of the disaster by the renowned international environmental group since its first radiation expert team arrived in Fukushima on 26 March 2011, with the most recent investigation having been conducted in November 2020.

This report chronicles some of Greenpeace’s key findings over the years, reflecting in particular on “how the government of Japan, largely under prime minister Shinzo Abe, has attempted to deceive the Japanese people by misrepresenting the effectiveness of the decontamination programme as well as the overall radiological risks in Fukushima Prefecture. As the latest Greenpeace surveys demonstrate, the contamination remains and is widespread, and is still a very real threat to long term human health and the environment.”

This report is an important reminder of the insurmountable risks associated with nuclear accidents, and governments in the global South would do well to heed these warnings.