Hiroshima Memo: Sufferers of nuclear accident identify with atomic bombings
May 11, 2011
by Akira Tashiro, Executive Director of the Hiroshima Peace Media Center
“It’s just like an atomic bombing. We're suffering from radiation exposure, just like the survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.”
This was what the former residents of Futaba-machi, Fukushima Prefecture told me. They had been forced to evacuate to Saitama Prefecture in the wake of the crisis at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, run by the Tokyo Electric Power Corporation (TEPCO), a disaster in which radioactive particles have continued to leak from the facility. I did not expect them to associate the nuclear plant with the atomic bombings because they said that most of the residents in their town, where TEPCO's plant is located, had come to depend on the power station for their livelihoods.
Atomic and hydrogen bombs are weapons that emit not only a tremendous amount of radiation, but also a powerful blast and intense heat rays at the time of the explosion. The “living hell” described by many A-bomb survivors, referring to the staggering scenes that they witnessed when the bombings took place, was caused mainly by the blast and the heat rays.
Nuclear power plants are built to generate electricity. In the event of an accident resulting in a core meltdown, such a disaster is not accompanied by a blast or heat rays, like nuclear weapons. However, once the radioactive materials contained in the nuclear reactors leak into the air, water, and soil, they bring harm to human health and the environment, in the same manner as nuclear weapons. The only distinction is the extent of the impact, which depends on the radiation doses, the forms of exposure, and the different radioactive nuclides emitted, such as iodine, cesium, strontium, and plutonium.
The Nuclear Safety Commission of Japan admitted that, as of April 12, the total amount of radioactive materials leaked from the Fukushima plant was about one-tenth of that of the Chernobyl accident, which is said to be the worst nuclear accident in history. Still, the amount of radiation released was already tens of times as large in volume as that of Hiroshima. Even if the critical conditions at the plant can be safely contained within six to nine months, as TEPCO's plan states, an enormous quantity of radioactive particles will have been leaked into the environment by that time.
Fortunately, most of the residents in Futaba-machi were not exposed to radiation because they evacuated immediately from the vicinity of the power plant to escape the huge tsunami that followed the earthquake. “Why, then, do you feel it was just like an atomic bombing?” I asked.
They replied, “Our town is contaminated with radiation so we don't know when we can return home. We're anxious about our future. It's depressing to think about. And if the nuclear plant should explode, we have nowhere to flee to in this small country.”
The radioactive contamination caused by the nuclear accident has suddenly deprived the residents of their hometown and their livelihoods. They were saying that, psychologically, it feels as if they have experienced the wrath of an atomic bomb. They may have escaped the direct impact of radiation exposure to their bodies, but there is no denying that they are suffering mentally as well as physically from psychosomatic stresses.
In my travels as a journalist, I have visited a range of countries, including the United States, Russia, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Belarus, Britain, France, India, and Iraq, where I interviewed people suffering from radiation exposure, among them workers at nuclear weapons factories, residents living nearby, soldiers who had participated in atmospheric nuclear tests, downwinders of the test sites, uranium mine workers, and sufferers of accidents at nuclear power plants. None of them were exposed to the blast and heat rays of an atomic bomb, like the survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Still, exposure to radiation, whether due to nuclear weapons or accidents at nuclear power plants, causes equal harm. Many of the radiation victims I interviewed live in sparsely-populated areas, some of the so-called “most remote” areas of the earth. The world today is now scarred by a number of places that are contaminated by radiation and that human beings cannot venture near.
Most of the 54 nuclear reactors in Japan, including those at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, are also located in depopulated areas. This is because building them in densely-populated areas was deemed too high a risk, despite the fact that the government and the electric power companies continued to claim that nuclear power plants were completely safe.
In the wake of the accident that occurred on March 11, the public's anger and anxiety has mounted, yet we often hear the electric power companies and others say: “In order to reduce the risk of energy shortages, we must maintain diversified sources of energy. In this light, nuclear power plants are vital.” With few natural resources of its own, it may be true that Japan needs to diversity its sources of energy to reduce this risk. At the same time, doesn't the crisis that has occurred at the Fukushima plant clearly show that nuclear power generation, which is justified as a way of reducing risk, is in fact posing the greatest risk of all to the Japanese people?
Hiroshima, Nagasaki, and Bikini… Despite knowing the horrifying effects of radiation, Japan has created a host of new victims and sufferers of radiation. This is an immense tragedy. With humility, we must listen to the warnings of the A-bomb survivors, still suffering from the late effects of radiation 65 years after the atomic bombing, and the residents of Futaba-machi and other communities, who are now suffering from this nuclear accident.
(Originally published on May 2, 2011)
“It’s just like an atomic bombing. We're suffering from radiation exposure, just like the survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.”
This was what the former residents of Futaba-machi, Fukushima Prefecture told me. They had been forced to evacuate to Saitama Prefecture in the wake of the crisis at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, run by the Tokyo Electric Power Corporation (TEPCO), a disaster in which radioactive particles have continued to leak from the facility. I did not expect them to associate the nuclear plant with the atomic bombings because they said that most of the residents in their town, where TEPCO's plant is located, had come to depend on the power station for their livelihoods.
Atomic and hydrogen bombs are weapons that emit not only a tremendous amount of radiation, but also a powerful blast and intense heat rays at the time of the explosion. The “living hell” described by many A-bomb survivors, referring to the staggering scenes that they witnessed when the bombings took place, was caused mainly by the blast and the heat rays.
Nuclear power plants are built to generate electricity. In the event of an accident resulting in a core meltdown, such a disaster is not accompanied by a blast or heat rays, like nuclear weapons. However, once the radioactive materials contained in the nuclear reactors leak into the air, water, and soil, they bring harm to human health and the environment, in the same manner as nuclear weapons. The only distinction is the extent of the impact, which depends on the radiation doses, the forms of exposure, and the different radioactive nuclides emitted, such as iodine, cesium, strontium, and plutonium.
The Nuclear Safety Commission of Japan admitted that, as of April 12, the total amount of radioactive materials leaked from the Fukushima plant was about one-tenth of that of the Chernobyl accident, which is said to be the worst nuclear accident in history. Still, the amount of radiation released was already tens of times as large in volume as that of Hiroshima. Even if the critical conditions at the plant can be safely contained within six to nine months, as TEPCO's plan states, an enormous quantity of radioactive particles will have been leaked into the environment by that time.
Fortunately, most of the residents in Futaba-machi were not exposed to radiation because they evacuated immediately from the vicinity of the power plant to escape the huge tsunami that followed the earthquake. “Why, then, do you feel it was just like an atomic bombing?” I asked.
They replied, “Our town is contaminated with radiation so we don't know when we can return home. We're anxious about our future. It's depressing to think about. And if the nuclear plant should explode, we have nowhere to flee to in this small country.”
The radioactive contamination caused by the nuclear accident has suddenly deprived the residents of their hometown and their livelihoods. They were saying that, psychologically, it feels as if they have experienced the wrath of an atomic bomb. They may have escaped the direct impact of radiation exposure to their bodies, but there is no denying that they are suffering mentally as well as physically from psychosomatic stresses.
In my travels as a journalist, I have visited a range of countries, including the United States, Russia, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Belarus, Britain, France, India, and Iraq, where I interviewed people suffering from radiation exposure, among them workers at nuclear weapons factories, residents living nearby, soldiers who had participated in atmospheric nuclear tests, downwinders of the test sites, uranium mine workers, and sufferers of accidents at nuclear power plants. None of them were exposed to the blast and heat rays of an atomic bomb, like the survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Still, exposure to radiation, whether due to nuclear weapons or accidents at nuclear power plants, causes equal harm. Many of the radiation victims I interviewed live in sparsely-populated areas, some of the so-called “most remote” areas of the earth. The world today is now scarred by a number of places that are contaminated by radiation and that human beings cannot venture near.
Most of the 54 nuclear reactors in Japan, including those at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, are also located in depopulated areas. This is because building them in densely-populated areas was deemed too high a risk, despite the fact that the government and the electric power companies continued to claim that nuclear power plants were completely safe.
In the wake of the accident that occurred on March 11, the public's anger and anxiety has mounted, yet we often hear the electric power companies and others say: “In order to reduce the risk of energy shortages, we must maintain diversified sources of energy. In this light, nuclear power plants are vital.” With few natural resources of its own, it may be true that Japan needs to diversity its sources of energy to reduce this risk. At the same time, doesn't the crisis that has occurred at the Fukushima plant clearly show that nuclear power generation, which is justified as a way of reducing risk, is in fact posing the greatest risk of all to the Japanese people?
Hiroshima, Nagasaki, and Bikini… Despite knowing the horrifying effects of radiation, Japan has created a host of new victims and sufferers of radiation. This is an immense tragedy. With humility, we must listen to the warnings of the A-bomb survivors, still suffering from the late effects of radiation 65 years after the atomic bombing, and the residents of Futaba-machi and other communities, who are now suffering from this nuclear accident.
(Originally published on May 2, 2011)
