After several explosions at Fukushima
Daiichi nuclear power plant in March last year, areas in and around Fukushima
equivalent to twice the size of the county of Devon in the UK became radiation
control areas. (areas exposed to 0.6μSV/ or more per hour, which those under 18
years of age are not normally allowed to enter and where special clothing must
be worn to protect the body from radiation exposure). Eighty thousand people were evacuated from an
area 20 km in radius around the Fukushima plant, but the population of
Fukushima prefecture is 2 million, and even Fukushima city, 50 km away, is no
longer safe for young children. It is
obvious how many people are still trapped in radiation control areas. Families whose children are exhibiting
symptoms such as nosebleeds and diarrhea have been trying to evacuate with
little support from the government. So far only 36,000 people including
children managed to evacuate outside Fukushima prefecture voluntarily, but the rest are forced to stay, keeping their
children indoors most of the time.
Since the disaster 4 reactors
have been continuously leaking the ionized radiation into the environment. We are also very concerned about ionized radiation
spreading well into the Kanto area, where Tokyo is. We have heard reports that more and more
hotspots have been found in various places in the east of Japan including Tokyo.
(hotspots are small areas where radioactive accumulated in rainwater and sludge
in puddles, gutters, waste-water purifying plants, etc. Forest areas are also high in ionized radiation,
especially in fallen leaves, wet soil, plants, grasses, and wild vegetables
such as mushrooms. Besides this, the
incineration of radioactive debris without proper filters is taking place in
other areas, contributing more and more to spreading ionized radiation to the rest of
Japan.
Recently we heard that Tokyo
station has become a hotspot because so many passengers from affected areas
including Fukushima pass through it, carrying the ionized radiation on their shoes. The station is linked by an extensive system
of underground passageways to surrounding commercial buildings and shopping centres,
which means that contamination simply continues to accumulate.
Radioactive contamination in the
food is another big issue in Japan. Various
reports says that people are eating radioactive food in Japan because some of the
food in the market are unchecked, and also the “safety limits” are so unrealistically
high.
It feels painful to report these
things, but at the same time it feels important to let the rest of the world know
what is happening in Japan. Once radiation
is released into the environment, it doesn’t disappear. We can only move it somewhere else and wait for
the life of each radioactive element to halve and halve till it eventually it becomes
harmless, and in some cases this would take a billion years. If a person ingests radioactive material, they continue to be
exposed to internal radiation, damaging cells inside their body, until the material
leaves their body. Radiation affects not
only humans but all living things from viruses and bacteria, to plants and flowers,
insects and birds and all animals.
People say that here in UK, we
are safe because we have no earthquakes or tsunamis, but the Chernobyl disaster
was caused by human error, and a nuclear plant could also be targeted by terrorists. As long as nuclear plants exist, the next accident
could happen in anywhere in the world – in fact, many small nuclear accidents have
already happened and the most likely continue to happen. Besides this, nuclear plants (especially reprocessing
plants) damage our environment even without any accidents. The question of how we can reduce CO2 emissions,
is important of course, but isn’t it even more important to address the issue of
avoiding nuclear disasters, because once such a disaster has happened, it is impossible
to turn the clock back.
References:
*Calendar of Nuclear Accidents:
*Chernobyl Million causalities:
*Health Risk Reports around Sellafiled in West Cumbria in the UK
