Ex-Japan PM Junichiro Koizumi turns nuclear foe

Tokyo

WILLIAM Zeller, a petty officer second class in the US Navy, was one of hundreds of sailors who rushed to provide assistance to Japan after a giant earthquake and tsunami set off a triple meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in 2011. Not long after returning home, he began to feel sick.

Today, he has nerve damage and abnormal bone growths, and blames exposure to radiation during the humanitarian operation conducted by crew members of the aircraft carrier Ronald Reagan. Neither his doctors nor the US government has endorsed his claim or those of about 400 other sailors who attribute ailments including leukaemia and thyroid disease to Fukushima and are suing Tokyo Electric, the operator of the plant.