Fukushima: Don’t forget – Working for Greenpeace in Fukushima

Greenpeace - Fukushima:Don't Forget

 

Recently I was in Fukushima prefecture shooting for Greenpeace where we interviewed people in temporary housing and visited their original homes in areas which are no longer safe to live due to radioactive contamination.
The piece with writing from Nina Schulz and photos from Noriko Hayashi is now up on Greenpeace’s site HERE.
(scroll across in the slideshows to find my video vignettes)
Please go and check it out as it is some of the most important work I have done and I’m very proud of it.

It was a sobering experience to hear the stories first hand.

I am grateful to Greenpeace for the opportunity to work with them and must say what an excellent team it was who went for the four days.
Of particular note were the stringent and reassuring radiation protocols in place.
Every member of the team wore 2 dosimeters at all times and our cumulative exposure was measured over the 4 days.
The radiation protocol officer was incredibly good at explaining where to go and where not to and making sure our time in Fukushima was as safe and controlled as possible. Huge thanks for that.

My 2 personal doseimeters

My personal readings were:-
4.98 micro Sv, Equivalent dose for whole body known as Hp10.
Total working time (dosimeter activated time): 32.5 hr
(total exposure due to contamination and the normal background radiation. So part of the 4.98 micro Sv received was normal background radiation)

To put that in some perspective the approximate exposure when I flew to the UK from Tokyo last year for my 12 hour flight would have been about 40 microSv.
A chest X-ray generally emits up to 60 micro Sv.

2014-01-16 20.13.46

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