SAGE meeting to discuss the nuclear incident in Japan

15 Mar 2011

On Sunday 13th March Sir John Beddington convened a meeting of the Scientific Advice Group in Emergencies (SAGE) to advise on the current nuclear incident in Japan.

Following that meeting Sir John said:

"I was asked by Ministers to convene the Scientific Advice for Emergencies (SAGE) group yesterday. This contained experts from within Government and external experts from the National Nuclear Laboratory and Academia"

"The unanimous view of SAGE was that there is no need for UK nationals to have to evacuate areas outside the current exclusion zone."

"Lessons learned from more significant incidents, such as Chernobyl, is that a exclusion zone (currently 20 km) will be effective - even in the event of a more substantial release -  in minimising the health effects from direct radiation exposure. Any emissions will be monitored in real time by the Japanese authorities which should enable appropriate advice to be issued."