I am a Japanese native and…

I am a Japanese native and have been to Fukushima many times after the nuclear disaster and spoke with many local people. I am also keeping up with what has been happening there.

Reading through Provincial Nuclear Emergency Response Plan 2009, here is my comment:

1. Water Supply

The most problematic area is the nonexistence of a measure for water supply. In the Fukushima disaster, approximately 80% of the radioactivity released immediately after the accident went to the Pacific Ocean. The huge problem that caused mandatory evacuation of more than 100,000 people is the result of receiving the 20% of the released radioactivity. If all the released radioactive plume fell inland, the damage in the land would have been 5 times more severe in a simple calculation.

As contaminated water keeps flowing into the sea, local fishermen are still not allowed to fish around Fukushima Daiichi plant, but the people do not drink water from the contaminated sea water. In Canada, millions of people lose sweet water resource immediately and permanently, which put all the millions of people at severe risk immediately.

2. Animals at Toronto Zoo

The text affirms that all animals need to be protected. Toronto Zoo which houses more than 5,000 animals including large animals such as polar bears, giraffes, lions and elephants. is located within 10km from the Pickering Nuclear Generation Station, and how can all the animals be protected when every single person need to evacuate? It needs a concrete measure that is acceptable for the humane standard. The same can be said for cattle animals. It is a right measure to protect animals but extremely difficult to execute. Even if it is possible, it cannot be done without risking the lives of many human caretakers.

3. Directions for Evacuation

In reality, the level of contamination is not decided by the distance from the site of the accident at all. If you see the map of contaminate areas for both Fukushima and Chenobyl, the severe contamination spread in one direction in the shape of a long and narrow corridor, which is determined by winds, geographical composition and weather. In case of Fukushima, the radioactive plume moved to all directions and mostly to the ocean as mentioned, and the largest part of the 20 % traveled north east and the largest fall out on the land occurred with snow fall. It contaminated the village of Iitate, a peaceful cattle farming village located 40 km from the wrecked plant . The residents were not informed about contamination. In fact, many people from the 10km zone including many children were taking refugee in the village thinking it's far enough, until a month later when a scientist who went there, measured the radiation level and alarmed the government. From there, the radioactive plume swept the valley to the south covering the largest cities of Fukushima also more than 40 km from the plant.

We need a continuous and run real-time system that can inform residence which way to run.

4. Anticipation for Lack of Communication

A nuclear disaster can occur in association with other unexpected severe events such as natural disasters, as was the case in Japan. The local residents can lose all the electric power and means of communication. In Fukushima, very few residence near the plant knew what happened even when everyone else in the country had already seen the explosion on TV. Most of them I talked to said that they were informed about the explosion from their friends and family members who were outside Fukushima when their cell phones started working or that they knew faster than other locals because they happened to be outside Fukushima. The disaster developed while most residents in the immediate zone were evacuated to nearby shelters where they could receive no information.

We need multiple alternative ways to inform people in case of communication blackout.

These measures are extremely important because unlike other disasters such as fire or flood, everywhere would look, feel and smell completely normal.

5. Longer Term Measures

Once happened, a nuclear accident forces people to stay out of the area for years or even decades. The towns and villages, as well as jobs and communities, cease to exist. Unlike other disasters, nuclear emergency is not a short time event.

6. Protection from Ingesting Radioactive Particles

Thyroid blocking has been a big issue in Ontario for the nuclear preparedness. From my observation in Japan, radioactive iodine is only one of many harmful radioactive substances, and strontium 90 and cesium 134/137 causes more damages in a long term. The most important measure immediately after the accident is not to ingest such particles floating in the air, and wearing masks with appropriate filters is a simple but extremely important measure.

We should encourage people to have such masks at home in addition to KI pills.

7. Nuclear Liability Act

The Ministry of Economic and Industry in Japan now estimates that the cost of the Fukushima Daiichi disaster including decommissioning, decontamination and compensations would reach 21.5 Trillion yen (240 billion CAD) in its Dec. 2016 estimate. The figure has doubled since three years ago. The current estimate of 1 billion CAD is unrealistic. If such is the case and the rest would be covered by our taxes, the government should clearly address that Canadian citizens are liable for such costs.

An end note:

As the most recent nuclear disaster, we should be prepared for a Fukushima scale accident as abolute minimum, but in fact we should be prepared for worse. We need to consider several things; the 80% of radioactivity was blown to the ocean and that; unlike the Chernobyl accident, the reactors at Fukushima Daiichi were not exploded despite the four explosions of containment facilities did; Pickering nuclear plant is located right next to a big city of Toronto whereas 80% of Fukushima is mountains and faces ocean, we should remind ourselves that Fukushima is, as severe as it was, not the worst case scenario.

Thank you for providing me an opportunity to share my observation.

[Original Comment ID: 210527]