information about Fukushima published in English in Japanese media info publiée en anglais dans la presse japonaise
5 Septembre 2013
September 4, 2013
The Asahi Shimbun on Sept. 4 won a Japan Newspaper Publishers and Editors Association award for a series of scoops revealing the scope of slipshod work done by general contractors to decontaminate areas around the stricken Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.
Four Asahi Shimbun reporters camped out a total of 130 hours in areas around the plant where decontamination work was under way. They photographed workers dumping tainted grass and water, instead of collecting them for proper disposal, at 11 sites. Interviewing workers, they wrote a series of stories that showed the corners being cut on the central government-commissioned cleanup efforts.
The series prompted the Environment Ministry to launch an investigation, which resulted in three general contractors being ordered to take corrective action.
The honor from the newspaper association, the Japanese equivalent to the Pulitzer Prize, followed last year’s award to The Asahi Shimbun for a long-running series under the title “The Prometheus Trap.” The articles detailed the fast-spreading Fukushima nuclear crisis from various angles after it was triggered by the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami on March 11, 2011.
The articles on the shoddy decontamination work that contributed to the winning of the award are available at:
(1): Radioactive waste dumped into rivers during decontamination work in Fukushima
(2): Some decontamination workers sorry for following orders
(3): Reporters document extent of shoddy decontamination practices
(4): Government mishandled complaints about shoddy cleanup work
(5): Government to investigate Fukushima decontamination
(6): Ministry questions decontamination contractors; workers express hopelessness
(7): Decontamination workers say cutting corners came naturally
(8): Environment Ministry failed to act on Asahi tip-off
(9): Fukushima city not sticking to plan to decontaminate homes
(10): Ministry to investigate after companies admit only 3 violations in Fukushima
(11): Photos, videos show contractors lied in decontamination reports
(12): Government confirms 5 cases of shoddy decontamination work
(13): Workers break silence to allege boss ordered corner-cutting
(14): Yakuza taking slice of lucrative decontamination work
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