With the emergency surrounding the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, Japan now faces a question that has been taboo since the Chernobyl nuclear accident in 1986, namely, who has to step up and do the work to mitigate a high-radiation nuclear accident.
With the emergency surrounding the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, Japan now faces a question that has been taboo since the Chernobyl nuclear accident in 1986, namely, who has to step up and do the work to mitigate a high-radiation nuclear accident.
Now is the time for the central government to gather all available knowledge to consider and implement as many methods as possible, including the installation of all necessary equipment and power transmission lines as well as a major mobilization of personnel, to deal with the situation.
After a fire was detected March 16 morning, a fire-fighting unit gave up fighting the fire because radiation levels were too high. In the afternoon, a Self-Defense Force helicopter tried to drop water from the air, but had to abandon that plan for the same reason.
Radiation levels of between 10 and 400 millisieverts per hour were recorded both within and outside the Fukushima nuclear plant. Those are very high figures.
However, the cooling of the reactor core has to be continued by all means. If the core continues to be damaged, it could lead to the emission of large amounts of radioactive materials.
When a criticality accident occurred in 1999 at a facility in Tokai, Ibaraki Prefecture, of JCO Co., a nuclear fuel reprocessing company, work was required under high radiation levels in order to prevent nuclear fuel from reaching a critical state.
The work was carried out by teams of two people. Each group only had about three minutes to run to where the accident occurred, do their work and return. The work was completed by nine groups.
The maximum level of radiation exposure incurred by an individual at that time was 103 millisieverts, which exceeded the 100-millisievert upper limit for workers in emergency situations.
The maximum exposure figure is equivalent to 70 years of the Japanese average for natural radiation exposure, but that was incurred in only three minutes.
Nuclear power is a technology which inevitably requires such dangerous work. Large radioactive contamination could make the land uninhabitable.
During the Chernobyl accident in 1986, sand was poured from the air by helicopter over the exposed reactor core. On the ground, many people worked at close range to the crippled reactor. However, the massive discharge of radioactive materials was stopped in one week.
Without that death-defying effort, the world would have been contaminated to a greater degree.
In the wake of that accident, the topic of working under very high radiation levels was also discussed in Japan.
However, that debate faded because it would have involved the fundamental social issue of whether a democratic state can order people to do work harmful to their health.
There was also the myth that major accidents just do not happen in Japan.
Now, however, we face an emergency situation. A quick decision and response is required.
The central government and Tokyo Electric Power Co. established on Tuesday a comprehensive headquarters to deal with the Fukushima nuclear accident. Information and decision-making authority should be concentrated there.
On March 15, the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry raised the upper limit for radiation exposure for those doing emergency work at the Fukushima nuclear power plant. Similar flexibility is possible with other governmental systems.
It is time to bring together the expertise of all the people and businesses knowledgeable about nuclear energy, regardless of whether they promoted it or opposed it. The situation requires an immediate response.