Japan's Nuclear Lessons

The magnitude 9.0 earthquake at Japan's Sendai nuclear power plant just offshore from Northern Honshu, Japan was one of the strongest earthquakes in recorded history. The resulting tsunami was one of the worst ever recorded. The earthquake and tsunami extensively damaged six 33 to 40 year old nuclear generating units at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. More than 10,000 people died in the earthquake and tsunami. Not a single person died or was made seriously ill by damage to the nuclear power plant. (1)

Looking back, it is clear that the Fukushima reactor complex, though nowhere close to state-of-the-art, was adequately designed to contain radiation. New reactors can be made even safer, of course, but the bottom line is that Fukushima passed the test. (2) Yet, based on media coverage, many and perhaps most Americans believe more people died from the nuclear power plant shutdown than the earthquake and tsunami combined. The reality is nuclear fears are taking a stronger toll on residents near Fukushima than nuclear radiation. (3) Lewis Page reported that nothing else in the quake-stricken area came though any thing like as well as the nuclear power stations, or with so little harm to the population. "The lesson to learn here is that if your country is hit by a monster earthquake and tsunami, one of the safest places to be is at the local nuclear power plant, Other Japanese nuclear power plants in the quake-stricken area, in fact, were sheltering homeless refugees in their buildings--which were some of the few in the region left standing at all, let alone with heating, water and other amenities. (4) He adds, "And yet nobody will say after this 'don't build roads; don't build towns; don't build ships or chemical plants or oil refineries or railways,' That would be ridiculous, of course, even though having all those things has actually led to terrible loss of life, destruction and pollution in the quake's wake." Yet, following the disaster, all 48 of the country's nuclear reactors were shut down. The final working plant in the country went off-line in September 2013. (5) Because of shutting down of its nuclear reactors, Japan's imports of fuel increased by $55 billion in 2011. This coupled with slowdowns in manufacturing from power shortages reversed Japan's trade balance from 20 years of trade surpluses to an $18 billion deficit. (6)

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Media fear-covering frenzy over Fukushima

However, recently two reactors at Japan's Sendai nuclear power plant received approval to be restarted by the governor and assembly for Kagoshima prefecture. It will be the first such restart following the post-Fulkushima decision to close all nuclear plants nationwide. (5) While some people in residential areas near Fukushima were wearing cumbersome radiation-blocking suits, filtered gas masks, gloves, and booties, there are many people living carefree in Brazil, India, Iran, Norway and other places where folks have lived normal lives for countless generations with radiation levels as much as 100 times greater than forbidden areas of the Fukushima homes. (3) An interesting new report suggests that with the right precautions people might be able to live continuously in radioactively contaminated areas with limited risk of internal exposure. The low levels of internal contamination of people in Minamisoma City, located several miles north of the Fukushima plant, suggest that it may be possible to control exposure levels if good food restriction systems are adhered to. "Mass evacuations such as happened in Chernobyl and Fukushima may not be the best approach apart from areas with extreme levels of airborne radiation," says one of the reports authors. (7) Uprooting people from their homes, work, and usual support systems, and forcing them into crowded refugee centers, causes casualties, especially among the elderly. It may permanently destroy their livelihood from farms or businesses. After Chernobyl, the most widespread and devastating effects were psychological, including suicide, and psychosis, writes Z. Jaworowski. He attributes this to excessive remedial measures and global radiophobic propaganda. (6) We have had three uncontrolled releases of radioactivity from serious malfunctions of nuclear power plants: Three Mile Island, Chernobyl and Fukushima. In each of these radiation fears proved to cause much more harm than the effects of the radiation itself. (3) Looking back on the media fear-covering frenzy over Fukushima, Lewis Page says, "As one who earns his living in the media these days, I can only apologize on behalf of my profession for the unbelievable levels of fear and misinformation purveyed. I have never been so ashamed to call myself a journalist." (4) References

1. Jay Lehr and Alan Lloyd, "With time and reflection, Fukushima lessons taking shape," Environment & Climate News, February 2012
2. Richard Muller, "The panic over Fukushima," onlinewsj.com, August 17, 2012
3. Jay Lehr, "Nuclear fears trumping reality in wake of Fukushima," Environment & Climate News, July 2012
4. Lewis Page, "Fukushima one week on: situation 'stable', says IAEA- shameful media panic very slowly begins to subside," theregister.co.uk, March 18, 2011
5. "Japanese governor approves 1st nuclear power restart since Fukushima disaster," rt.com/news, November 7, 2014
6. Jane Orient, "The aftermath of Fukushima," Civil Defense Perspectives, September 2012
7. Lindsey Konkel, "Data for disaster planning: risk factors for internal radiation exposures after Fukujshima, Environmental Health Perspectives; DOI:10.1289/ehp.122-A166, June 2014