Following the Fukushima nuclear disaster, the Japanese Government raised the level of allowable radiation from 1 to 20 millisieverts per year. This so-called “safety level” is the cut-off criterion for compensation for damage to private property incurred by fallout contamination. The reasoning is: if doses below 20 millisieverts per year are safe, then property holders have no grounds upon which to file suit for compensation and the perpetrators are thereby shielded from liability.

However, while officials proclaim that there is no evidence of harm below 20 millisieverts per year, this detailed review of both historical and contemporary radiation research demonstrates the contrary: