Greenpeace flagship Rainbow Warrior has begun radiation sampling to the south of the crisis-stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear complex.
Greenpeace submitted research plans to test within Japan’s 12 mile territorial limit but the Japanese government denied the crew permission.
Greenpeace has appealed to the Japanese Prime Minister to intervene personally and grant permission for a marine testing programme inside the 12 mile limit.
Can you help? To send messages to the Prime Minister of Japan on Twitter, mention @JPN_PMO and use the hashtag #rw-japan.
See the letter written by GPI Executive Director Kumi Naidoo to Prime Minister Kan.
As we wait for his response, the crew is testing water and seaweed off the Ibaraki coast, and to the southern border of the evacuation zone.
After denying Greenpeace access to test within the 12 mile limit the Japanese government decided to test in these very areas. TEPCO has announced that it found contamination levels 100 to 1000 times higher than normal in sediment from the Fukushima coast.
Greenpeace Japan Executive Director Junichi Sato said in response:
