Reports
from Japanese journalists confirm what anti-nuclear activists fear: the
situation in Fukushima is much worse than the government is letting on - and the
Japanese people are being misled.
The
Japanese government doesn't seem to be doing a good job providing information
about the situation in Fukushima - at least that's how Junko Naggai sees it.
That's why she created an information site on the web. Though the 78-year-old
is a long-time German resident, she has decided to create her website in
Japanese language.
"I
didn't know it would be so bad, that there would be so little information. That
was a bit of a shock to me," Naggai says in Berlin.
 |
| Japanese Journalist Takashi Uesugi |
The former
TV moderator was invited to a discussion by the Lutheran Church and various
NGOs in Berlin to talk about the Japanese government's handling of the nuclear
disaster in Fukushima. Among other things, he explains how radiation
measurements in Fukushima are manipulated.
"The
top surface is removed and the area is cleaned with water before the Geiger
counters are used," he says.
Disinformation
Considering
the current levels of radiation, the decision of the Japanese government to
reopen parts of evacuated areas is something completely irresponsible, says
physicist and head of the Society for Radiation Protection Sebastian Pflugbeil.
"It is
reckless. Those people should travel to Chernobyl and see how it looks after 26
years."
After the
nuclear meltdown in the Ukraine in 1986, the government also made efforts to
decontaminate the areas and also to get rid of the affected layers of topsoil.
But the endeavor proved to be impossible.
 |
| According to Uesugi, radiation measurements are manipulated |
In Japan,
the debris left behind in the tsunami adds another dimension to the problem.
"There
is a lot of debris. They are trying to spread it out and burn it in some
prefectures. That is creating further problems because the radioactivity gets
out and spreads."
Pflugbeil
thinks the Japanese government's strategies to get over the catastrophe by
appealing to peoples' patriotism is absurd. On his last trip to the East Asian
country, he took a picture at a beauty contest - with support from the minister
for agriculture, a contest was held to find the prettiest student who ate only
food from the Fukushima region.
The power
of the nuclear lobby
Tamahashi
Uesugi criticizes the strong linkages between politics, the nuclear industry
and the media. He says politicians who lose their offices are often offered a
job with the energy company Tepco, which operates three nuclear power plants in
Japan - one of which is the stricken Daiichi plant in Fukushima. Uesugi
believes with all the interdependencies, the system is impenetrable.
Furthermore, such are the government's efforts to play down the nuclear
disaster, Uesugi points out, that whoever criticizes it is shunned out of the
system.
 |
| The number of Japan's anti-nuclear activists is growing |
It is not
only the Japanese government, but also international organizations - the
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the World Health Organization
(WHO) - which are also playing down the effects of radiation exposure.
According to "official" figures, only 50 people died as a result of
the nuclear disaster in Chernobyl.
"But
our experience tells a different story," says the spokesperson for the
organization International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War
(IPPNW), Angelika Wilmen.
"Effects
of nuclear radiation include miscarriages, birth defects, genetic defects among
newborns, and a cancer.“
The extent
of the side-effects are showing up now, 25 years later; so the number of
casualties should be closer to a million, who either still are or have suffered
the long-term effects of radiation.
Demonstrations
against Ooii
Of Japan's
54 nuclear power plants, 15 of them are currently shut down due to damage. All
of the others, aside from one, are being inspected. But to the dismay of the
anti-nuclear protesters, it does not appear as though they will all be kept off
the grid. The Japanese government wants to get the nuclear power plant in Ooii
up and running again. But the governor of Fukui prefecture has to agree first,
Takashi Uesugi, a journalist, points out.
He says
according to Twitter, around 60,000 people gathered outside the government
building in Tokyo out of protest. "But the Japanese media don't talk about
such protests," he complains.
 |
| Sebastian Pflugbeil, head of the Society for Radiation Protection |
Nonetheless,
opposition to nuclear power is growing. "We have even been noticing such
tendencies in our area of Japan, which tends to be more conservative,"
Wilmen says.
Bound to
get worse?
Around 80
percent of the radiation in Fukushima has leaked out around the sea instead of
into residential areas. But that could change soon. Pflugbeil is not only
worried about the large amounts of radioactive material that continues to flow
into the ocean. He says developments in reactor number 4 are a cause for worry.
"There
is a large bathtub there in which 1,500 old fuel rods are kept for
cooling."
If they
can't be kept cool, the fuel rods will self-destruct, he explains. "That
would release a huge amount of radiation. According to Japanese experts, if
that were to happen, they would have to evacuate an area of up to 250
kilometers. That means Tokyo would also have to be evacuated."
Junko Nagai
and five others are about to go online again. They want to publish the latest
information as soon as possible on their Japanese website.
Author: Ulrike Mast-Kirschning / sb
Editor: Shamil Shams
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