Industry minister Toshimitsu Motegi apologized April 18 for
Industry minister Toshimitsu Motegi apologized April 18 for
“I am sorry for any anxiety I might have caused,” Motegi said at a news conference held after a Cabinet meeting.
In a separate news conference, Atsuo Tamura, counselor of the Cabinet Office, which commissioned two organizations to conduct the survey, explained that bureaucrats shared the results of the survey but decided to refrain from releasing them publicly without consulting Motegi or other politicians in high-ranking positions.
In July 2013, the Cabinet Office’s team in charge of assisting the lives of nuclear disaster victims asked the National Institute of Radiological Sciences and the Japan Atomic Energy Agency to look at the situation in the municipalities of Kawauchi, Iitate and Tamura, which included zones being prepared for the lifting of evacuation orders.
From August to September, the two organizations measured radiation doses in the air at farmland, forests, homes and schools, and also checked readings of dosimeters carried by some people. As a result, they concluded that the radiation dose each individual is likely to be exposed to is about 70 percent of the airborne dose.
Taking lifestyle patterns and other factors into account, they estimated the radiation dose for individuals in various occupations.
The survey results were submitted to the government on Oct. 11 last year. At the time, a council of experts attached to the Nuclear Regulation Authority was considering changing the method to measure radiation doses, from one based on airborne radiation to readings found on dosimeters carried by local residents.
However, the government failed to inform the NRA council that it was doing the survey.
“That was because the survey had not been completely finished,” an official of the Cabinet Office said.
The government finally released the results of the survey on April 18.
On April 1, the government lifted its evacuation order in the Miyakoji district in Tamura, which was also covered by the survey.
“If the government had released the survey results immediately, local governments and residents would have been able to think about and work out measures to deal with the radiation (in more detail),” said Shinzo Kimura, an associate professor at Dokkyo Medical University, who is well-versed in measures against radiation.
Some residents were also unhappy about the delay in releasing the survey findings.
"The industry ministry still has a tendency to cover up (important information),” said Upper House lawmaker Teruhiko Mashiko of the opposition Democratic Party of Japan who represents Fukushima Prefecture.
The government is planning to lift its evacuation order in a district of Kawauchi as early as July. However, the survey showed that the estimated radiation dose for each farmer there stood at 3 millisieverts a year, higher than the government’s long-term goal of 1 millisievert a year.
The government is leaning toward dosimeter readings rather than airborne levels as a long-term goal as part of moves to make decommissioning work easier.
If radiation doses are estimated using dosimeter readings, then acceptable airborne radiation doses would increase by 40 percent.
However, a high-ranking Japan Atomic Energy Agency official said that is not feasible.
“It will be impossible to do so (from a scientific viewpoint),” said Takuma Momose, who was involved in the survey.
Only adults were subject to the latest survey. For future surveys, however, the government is considering estimating the radiation dose each child is likely to be exposed to over the course of a year.
(This article was compiled from reports by Shinichi Sekine, Miki Aoki and Asako Myoraku.)