Government of Japan ignored U.S. radiation monitoring data in
days after 3/11 Even as thousands of residents pondered the
implications of the nuclear disaster in Fukushima Prefecture
last year, Japanese government officials took little notice of
up-to-the-minute high radiation measurements provided by the
U.S. Energy Department. A Japanese minister apologised Tuesday
for the nation's failure to make use of a United States-made map
showing how radiation was spreading from crippled reactors in
the days after the Fukushima crisis. Tokyo admitted that
confusion among government departments meant the map was never
used and evacuees were not directed away from areas where
radiation from the leaking nuclear plant was spiking. US
military aircraft collected radiation data in areas around the
Fukushima Daiichi plant, which was hit by the earthquake and
tsunami of March 11, 2011, sending three reactors into meltdown.
"It is extremely regrettable that (the information) was not used
by the government. I apologise to the