×

Opinion

Hiroshima Memo: Taking part in a symposium on “Fukushima” at a U.S. university

by Akira Tashiro, Executive Director of the Hiroshima Peace Media Center

Making use of lessons learned from the nuclear disaster in Japan

The city of Oberlin, with a population of 8,000 people, is located in the northern part of the U.S. state of Ohio. The soul of the city is Oberlin College, which boasts 2,700 students and 300 faculty members. The college was founded in 1833, at the time the city itself was established. Oberlin College has long been known as a liberal institution, and was the first college in the United States to enroll an African-American student.

Oberlin College and Oberlin Shansi, an independent nonprofit organization located on the college campus, held a two-day symposium under the theme of “Fukushima: Lessons Learned” on March 9 and 10. The event was held to commemorate the first anniversary of the accident at the Fukushima No. 1 (Daiichi) nuclear power plant, a disaster which occurred in the aftermath of the Great East Japan Earthquake on March 11, 2011. The symposium sought to glean lessons from Fukushima, as well as identify the challenges ahead, by shedding light on the nuclear disaster from a variety of perspectives. The accident at the Fukushima plant, operated by the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), has shaken the entire international community.

Seven American experts involved in the study of nuclear issues in such fields as nuclear technology, geology, anthropology, and epidemiology served as panelists at the symposium. The panelists included Kennette Benedict, the executive director of the “Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists,” a journal known for its “doomsday clock,” which shows, symbolically, how much time remains before the outbreak of nuclear war. Because the college hoped to “incorporate a perspective from Hiroshima, the A-bombed city,” I was asked to join the panel as well.

The symposium began with a minute of silence for the victims of the earthquake. The number of victims is estimated at about 20,000, including those who went missing when they were swept out to sea by the tsunami. Ms. Benedict, who served as the keynote speaker, stated: “The nuclear disaster at Fukushima is a human tragedy that calls us to understand the power of nuclear technology, the risks we are willing to take, and the trade-offs we are willing to make.”

The symposium featured three areas of discussion: “Compound Catastrophe and Nuclear Aftermath,” “Public Policy: Regulation, Enforcement, and Reform,” and “Nukes and Civil Society: Conflicting Discourses.” After the panelists asked to lead a particular theme presented their views for about 30 minutes, a lively discussion took place involving the panelists and members of the audience.

As a result of the nuclear disaster in eastern Japan, the nation’s stance toward nuclear energy has been called into question. Although Japan has long been aware that the land is prone to powerful earthquakes and tsunamis, a belief in the “safety myth” of nuclear energy, advanced by the electric power companies, the central government, bureaucrats, and other parties, resulted in insufficient safety measures.

Joonhong Ahn, a professor of nuclear engineering at the University of California, Berkeley, has extensive knowledge of Japan’s nuclear energy policy. Professor Ahn pointed out that “Probabilistic risk assessment (PRA) should be used as a guiding tool for persistent checking and improvement of the reactors and system’s safety. However, the Japanese government and the utilities insisted that the reactors were ‘absolutely safe,’ which is a clear contradiction to the PRA approach.”

There are 104 nuclear reactors, the largest number of any nation in the world, in operation in the United States. However, no new nuclear power stations have been constructed since 1978, the year prior to the accident at the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant in the state of Pennsylvania, which resulted in a core meltdown. Thus, the nuclear plants in the United States continue to age. How has that nation made use of the lessons learned at Fukushima?

Since the accident at the Fukushima plant, President Barack Obama has stressed the need to bolster the nation’s efforts to guard against a nuclear accident in the United States. At the same time, this past February the president gave his approval to the construction and operation of two nuclear power plants in the state of Georgia, which will make these the first newly-built power stations in 34 years, arguing that nuclear energy is a form of “clean energy.”

David Lochbaum, a nuclear engineer and the director of the Nuclear Safety Project for the Union of Concerned Scientists, criticized the Obama administration for its delay in addressing safety measures at U.S. plants. Citing specific examples, he said, “Today, roughly half [47] of the U.S. fleet of 104 operating nuclear reactors fail to comply with fire protection regulations adopted years ago. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has stated that fire constitutes 50 percent of the risk of reactor core damage at the average U.S. nuclear reactor. The NRC knows this problem exists at the power plants, but it has not been fixed.”

Because enormous expense is involved in pursuing safety measures, and this results in smaller profits for the nuclear energy firms, it appears that even in the United States, companies within the nuclear industry have dragged their heels at the idea of shoring up safety standards.

To date, radiation sufferers who were exposed to radiation in circumstances involving nuclear tests, accidents at nuclear power plants, and uranium mining, among other situations, have been largely ignored by societies around the world. As a result, the actual conditions surrounding these victims have not been properly understood. This lack of understanding has led to indifference on the part of the general public to the issues of radiation exposure and contamination, while enabling our nuclear-dependent earth. This quandary was also a focus of discussion at the symposium.

In addressing these issues, I shared a series of feature articles, entitled “Exposure: Victims of Radiation Speak Out,” as well as other articles in which the Chugoku Shimbun sought to report on the reality of nuclear damage. Regarding the accident at the nuclear plant in Fukushima, I emphasized the vital role of the media in conveying the voices of the sufferers who are living with fears of radiation exposure and have been deprived of their livelihoods, as well as pursuing the background behind the accident. In line with this idea, I stated frankly: “Why doesn’t the mainstream media here report on those who have been exposed to radiation in the United States as a consequence of nuclear development activities and other conditions? I feel such coverage is a grave responsibility for the U.S. media.”

The voices of other panelists spoke from their own unique perspective. The epidemiologist explained the effects of low-level radiation exposure on the human body. The anthropologist shared the experience of following conditions on the Marshall Islands for years, where the local residents were exposed to atomic and hydrogen bomb tests carried out by the United States. And the geologist made a compelling presentation about the Earth as a living entity, showing slides which illustrated the power of the earthquake that struck Fukushima.

The presentations made by these experts were not only valuable for the roughly 300 people who attended the symposium, including students, faculty members, and local citizens, but they were valuable for me as well. An art exhibition entitled “The Fire that Doesn’t Go Out” was held in conjunction with the symposium, at another venue, and its themes of “Fukushima” and “nuclear issues” raised sharp questions about the negative repercussions of the nuclear age.

I also learned that, within a few more years, the electricity used throughout the city of Oberlin will be generated from renewable energy sources, such as solar energy. This goal is the result of the heightened awareness of the local citizens, arm in arm with the college community, when it comes to issues involving safety and the environment.

(Originally published on March 25, 2012)  

Archives