Post-disaster nuclear safety efforts continue.
Two months after the devastating earthquake
and tsunami in northeastern Japan, the toll
of dead or missing stands at more than 24,000,
with some 120,000 survivors who remain in
shelters. As Tokyo Electric Power Company
(TEPCO) officials apologized to the more than
85,000 residents forced from their homes in
the 20-kilometer area around of the stricken
Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, the
government on Tuesday, May 10 allowed 92 victims
of 54 households from Kawauchi Village to
briefly visit their homes to gather personal
items. It was the first organized visit permitted
since the exclusion zone was declared in April.
At the urging of parents and teachers, Mayor
Takanori Seto of Fukushima city also agreed
to the removal of radiation-contaminated topsoil
from schoolyards.
At the Fukushima facility, TEPCO detected
radiation levels in the reactor No. 1 building
much higher than expected of 700 millisieverts
per hour. This has prompted Japan’s Nuclear
and Industrial Safety Agency to work on improving
protective measures for TEPCO workers, some
who have only had one medical check since
the crisis began on March 11. On Tuesday,
workers began adjusting gauges at the No.
1 reactor to restore stable cooling. However,
such developments have not yet been made at
the other five reactor buildings, raising
concerns that TEPCO is not on schedule for
containing the accident. On Wednesday, TEPCO
also reported a new leak at reactor No. 3,
with highly radioactive water found to be
seeping from a pipe into the ocean. While
the water in the reactor pit contained radioactive
cesium 620,000 times over the legal safety
limit, seawater levels were 32,000 times the
limit. By Wednesday evening, workers had plugged
the leak, although radioactivity in the seawater
was still 10,000 times permissible levels.
On Tuesday, Japan’s Prime Minister Naoto
Kan offered an apology about the nuclear situation
to the nation as he also announced that he
would refuse to accept his premier’s wage
until the Fukushima Daiichi crisis is over.
As Chubu Electric Power Company in central
Japan agreed to his request to suspend operation
of its Hamaoka nuclear plant due to safety
concerns, Prime Minister Kan pledged greater
safety in nuclear power altogether while stating
that alternative energy sources would now
more actively be developed. In Shizuoka and
Saga prefectures, the governors stated they
would not resume operations of the nuclear
reactors in their regions until more information
assuring of safety was received. Meanwhile,
at a four-day United Nations World Conference
on Disaster Risk Reduction in Geneva, Switzerland,
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon warned that
countries using nuclear energy must ensure
their reactors can withstand multiple disasters,
saying that Japan’s recent accident indicates
large gaps in world nuclear security.
Our appreciation, Secretary-General Ban, Japanese
and international governments, organizations,
and personnel working to protect the well-being
of all people. May such dangerous situations
soon be a thing of the past as we strive to
more gently regard the Earth and all her inhabitants�
