Around 10,000 excess cancer deaths are expected in Japan five years after the Fukushima accident.

That’s according to a report from US based Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR) and International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW).

The report used data to calculate the excess cancer rates among children, rescue clean-up workers and the general population of Japan.

It claims the full impact of Fukushima may never be known due to Japan’s failure to immediately and fully track radiation exposures, as well as a “disturbing lack of testing” of the general population for radiation-related diseases and other impacts.

In addition to the 200,000 residents near the nuclear plant, millions of others in Japan are at risk because of fallout-contaminated food, soil and water, it adds.

Catherine Thomasson Executive Director at PSR said: “The health legacy of Fukushima will haunt Japan for years to come and it cannot be wished out of existence by cheerleaders for nuclear power. Unfortunately, the pro-nuclear Japanese Government and the country’s influential nuclear lobby are doing everything in their power to play down and conceal the effects of the disaster.

“The high numbers of thyroid cancers already verified with 50 additional waiting for surgery in the children of Fukushima prefecture is astounding. The aim seems to be to ensure the Fukushima file is closed as soon as possible and the Japanese public returns to a positive view of nuclear power. This rush to re-embrace nuclear power is dangerous to the extent that it sweeps major and very real medical concerns under the rug.”