Australian teachers in Japan may be placed too close to leaky nuclear reactors - NEWS.com.au

Children from Fukushima, where a tsunami-stricken plant triggered a nuclear crisis, travel to Tokyo to pressure the government to protect them from radiation. Simon Hanna reports.

The reactors in Japan's northern Fukushima area were damaged by a massive tsunami, which triggered the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl / AP Source: AP

A LEADING Japanese recruiter of teachers from Australia is placing recruits closer to leaky nuclear reactors than recommended by Canberra's radiation safety agency.

The move by the Japanese Government-sponsored JET program reflects the gulf between what Japanese and other nations' authorities constitute a safe distance from nuclear reactors.

The reactors in Japan's northern Fukushima area were in March damaged by a massive tsunami, which triggered the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl.

JET is mostly known for recruiting native English-speaking teachers for Japanese schools. It maintains no teacher will be placed in an area the Japanese Government deems "unsafe".

Teachers will be placed no closer than 30km to the disaster-struck nuclear reactors at Fukushima, in line with Japanese safety guidelines. No teachers will be placed in areas "under watch for possible evacuation", JET says in an explanation document.

The program confirmed to The Courier-Mail that 31 new JET participants from English-speaking nations were offered placements within 80km of the nuclear plants. Three who took up the offer were Australians, JET said.

The Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency recommends Australians keep at least 80km away from the reactors.

"As a precautionary measure ... Australians within an 80km zone from the Fukushima nuclear power plant (are recommended to) move out of the area," an advisory guide says.

"The US had made a similar recommendation in accordance with the standard guidelines of their Nuclear Regulatory Commission."

JET's explanation document details that it might place participants closer to reactors than advised by foreign governments.

Asked about people who refuse to go within the 80km zone, Hisashi Ueno of Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said participants, placed inside a boundary recommended by their own governments, could re-apply for the program next year.

If a participant's government would not allow them to go into restricted zones, they could become substitutes to replace any departing JET participants in other locations, he said.

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