22 million tons of radioactive debris was
created by the big earthquake and tsunami in the northeast of Japan (in Miyagi, Iwate and Fukushima prefectures) on
March 11 last year. The debris in Fukushima prefecture has been burnt in Fukushima
prefecture, but the Japanese government wants other areas (even Okinawa, in the
far south of Japan) to incinerate some of the debris from Miyagi and Iwate
Prefecture and bury the ash in those areas.
Although
the government has been saying it’s safe to do this, most people outside the
affected areas have been rejecting the plan because they know that the
contamination went well beyond Fukushima Prefecture. Although the radiation level in the debris is
relatively low, it gets concentrated into the ash when the debris is
incinerated and is also spread into the air during incineration. Also the government relaxed the
safety limit for radiation in debris up to 8,000 BQ/kg
from 100 BQ/kg in July, then further raised it to 10,000BQ/kg in October last year,
allowing normal incinerator s to incinerate radioactive debris below 10,000 BQ/kg in
the same way as normal material.
Although in the name of ‘speedy recovery’ the
government has been only asking for about 4 million tons (20%) of the total
amount to be incinerated in this way, they have been using big corporations
that have a cozy relationship with the government, and have been neglecting
the question of economic growth for Iwate and Miyagi Prefectures, which want to
incinerate all of the debris there to create job oporurtunies in those
regions. Furthermore the government has rejected their requests to build
a proper incinerator with a suitable filter for removing the radiation. According to a test report from an
incinerator using a bag filter in Shimada-city in Shizuoka prefecture; it’s
only 60% effective for removing cesium 137 when using the filter. In fact
there is no incinerator with a proper filter attached for
removing 100% cesium in the whole of Japan, so the amount of radiation
from the existing ones (particularly in Fukushima prefecture) has been
contributing to high levels of radioactive contamination in the air in the
affected areas.
The
government has invested a huge amount of money (23 million pounds) in publicity to try to persuade citizens to
agree with it about the issues of debris and decontamination. Isn’t that
crazy? It’s similar to the way in which the government kept saying it was safe to eat
food from the contaminated areas after relaxing the safety level for radiation
in food, spending a huge amount of money on a misleading safety
campaign. Also they have been telling evacuees it will be safe for them
to return after decontamination work in the areas of high radiation in Fukushima, ignoring a report from
specialists in Belarus, saying that it’s a waste of money.
Getting
back to the issue of radioactive debris, I would like to remind you of what
Prof Arnie Gunderson, a nuclear engineer and energy adviser who has been involved in
designing, constructing, operating and decommissioning nuclear power plants in
the USA, suggested:
“It would be better to keep radioactive debris
near the plant rather than spreading it all over Japan. The strategy of downgrading and spreading it
out is less expensive in the short term, at least until the pits begin to leak,
but we should remember that the radiation will continue to be emitted for hundreds
of years, so, while the likelihood of the pits
leaking may not be much this year, it will become significant
and severe in the future.”
I think the government should listen to the
voices of the nation and not take the wrong course of action in the name of
helping the affected areas to recover. People
aware of the facts have been saying to the government that the best way of
supporting the affected areas is to accept the children in Fukushima but not
the radioactive debris, and that it is essential to keep the western part of
Japan radiation free for growing as much food as possible.
If the government can spend 23
million pounds on publicity, they should spend it on evacuating children from
Fukushima Prefecture, or at least on arranging for them to visit radiation-free
areas regularly to recuperate and on giving them more regular health check-ups. I bet there would still be enough money to build a new incinerator with a suitable
filter attached in Fukushima, Miyagi and Iwate prefectures to incinerate all
the debris as safely as possible.
Without a proper filter, it’s just going to accumulate even more
radiation in the air. It’s bad enough
already in Fukushima where the citizens including children are forced to live
up to 20mSv/y.
http://blog.goo.ne.jp/mayumilehr/e/afbe48ccbe01760725dbdebff2c0f6d7
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