Fukushima's lasting impact on kids' health
Fukushima prefecture, Japan
Two-year-old Sakuya Zui plays at an indoor playground which was built for children and parents who refrain from playing outside because of concerns about nuclear radiation in Koriyama, Feb. 27, 2014.
Three years after the earthquake, tsunami and ensuing nuclear disaster hit Fukushima, kids should have returned to the parks and playgrounds in much of the prefecture. But fair weather or foul, the indoor center remains packed -- and the streets of Fukushima, once alive with kids on bicycles and playing fields, are still unnaturally quiet.
Fukushima prefecture, Japan
Paper crafts of Japanese ornamental "hina" dolls, made by children, are displayed on a wall at the Emporium kindergarten in Koriyama, west of the tsunami-crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, Fukushima prefecture, Feb. 28, 2014.
Radiation levels in Koriyama are about ten times higher than before the accident -- average yearly exposure in the city is around 2.6 millisieverts, beyond the 1 millisievert recommended annual exposure, but well within the 20-millisievert limit set by the International Commission on Radiological Protection. The ICRP says there is no statistically higher cancer risk with exposure levels under 100 millisieverts.