Doubtful
of utility's aptitude, experts urge help for dangerous operation
by
Eric
Johnston
OSAKA
– With Tepco due to begin removing more than 1,300 spent-fuel rod
assemblies and nearly 200 fresh ones from the reactor 4 pool at the
Fukushima No. 1 plant this month, global pressure is mounting to
allow an international task force to monitor and assist the highly
hazardous operation.
A
former Japanese ambassador to Switzerland, anti-nuclear groups in
Japan and abroad, nuclear engineers, doctors and radiologists are
warning of the dangers of the operation Tokyo Electric Power Co.
plans to carry out and calling for pressure on Prime Minister Shinzo
Abe’s administration to be more globally transparent.
“It
is urgently needed to set up an international task force to assist
Japan by deploying all possible means to reduce the risks of the
imminent first unloading of spent fuel from unit 4,” ex-Ambassador
to Switzerland Mitsuhei Murata said in a recent letter to U.S.
President Barack Obama.
Journalist
and activist Harvey Wasserman, writing for Global Research, an
independent research and media organization based in Montreal, claims
Tepco does not have the scientific, engineering or financial
resources to extract the fuel on its own.
The
extraction “may be humankind’s most dangerous moment since the
Cuban missile crisis. We are petitioning the United Nations and Obama
to mobilize the global scientific community to take charge of the
nuclear power plant and the job of moving these fuel roads to
safety,” he wrote in September.
Separately,
17 internationally prominent physicians, nuclear engineers and
scientists, radiation experts, and policymakers have written to U.N.
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, asking that he appoint experts
independent of both Tepco and the International Atomic Energy Agency,
which has a mandate to both monitor and promote nuclear energy, to
formulate a viable disaster-mitigation plan.
The
operation to remove the fuel rods is also heightening fears in the
U.S. over food safety, especially on the West Coast. More than 12,000
people have signed an online petition on Change.org
to 10 senators, calling on them to conduct an investigation into
possible environmental damage to the U.S. Pacific coast.
“This
would include a detailed inspection of the (Fukushima No. 1) facility
by a team of experts who are independent of the nuclear industry, as
well as ongoing monitoring of West Coast and Hawaii water, air and
food for radiation,” the petition reads.
At
a meeting of largely pro-nuclear Japanese and international
scientific experts in Kyoto last month, Abe said the government is
open to receiving the most advanced knowledge from abroad to contain
the Fukushima woes.
He
also told the International Olympic Committee in September that Japan
needs international assistance. But in neither case did he specify
what kind of advice from abroad he would welcome.
福島原発
燃料棒取り出しの｢UFOｷｬｯﾁｬｰ｣大作戦に世界中が不安視
http://asumaken.blog41.fc2.com/blog-entry-10164.html
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