Japan transparent on Fukushima incident

THIS IS in response to retired Ambassador Nelson D. Laviña’s letter in the Inquirer’s May 10 issue.

First of all, Laviña claimed that, “Japan has been secretive about nuclear issues.” The statement is untrue. The government of Japan is fully committed to providing full and accurate information on this nuclear incident to maintain transparency. It has been consistently monitoring the soil, food and marine products, and sharing information with the international community about the status of the Fukushima plant. The data are published on a daily basis in its official website.

Secondly, Laviña raised doubts about the Philippine government’s assurances that the Philippines will not be affected by radiation. I concur fully with the Philippine government’s evaluation, which stands by the same assessment made by international organizations such as the International Atomic Energy Agency, International Civil Aviation Organization, International Maritime Organization, and World Health Organization. Similar renowned institutions have been making independent and objective assessments, and their findings are unanimous: the radioactivity from Fukushima plant poses no harm to human health in other countries.

Thirdly, Laviña recommends “entombing the damaged reactors” as was done in Chernobyl. The situation in Fukushima differs from the one in Chernobyl in many ways:

1. In Fukushima, the amount of radioactive material released to the atmosphere so far remains approximately 10 percent of that released in Chernobyl.

2.  In Chernobyl, the reactor of the radioactive material itself exploded. Not so in Fukushima, as the reactors automatically shut down.

3. There are no radiation-related human casualties that occurred in the Fukushima plant. Unfortunately, the Chernobyl accident led to the deaths from radiation sickness of around 50 people.

Because of these differences, we recently announced the roadmap for putting the Fukushima Daiichi Plant under control. Developed in close collaboration with international organizations such as IAEA and major nuclear countries such as the United States and France, this roadmap presents a viable and concrete solution to the current situation. The solution will be done in various stages over the next 6-9 months to bring the affected reactors and spent fuel pools to a stable cooling condition, and to restrict the release of radioactive materials. The government of Japan will ensure the implementation of the roadmap in a steady and safe manner.

Regarding the release of contaminated water into the sea, we regret that we had to resort to such means. It was done as an emergency and unavoidable measure to prevent further releases of highly contaminated water. However, the international community has our highest assurances that the released water’s contamination level is low, and there is no major increase of radioactivity detected in the sea beyond the immediate vicinity of the Fukushima plant.

—SHINSUKE SHIMIZU,

minister, head of chancery,

Embassy of Japan, Manila