information about Fukushima published in English in Japanese media info publiée en anglais dans la presse japonaise
20 Avril 2014
April 19, 2014
Industry minister Toshimitsu Motegi apologized April 18 for a six-month delay in releasing the results of a survey in Fukushima Prefecture about the amount of radiation each resident will likely be exposed to per year.
“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.)
Motegi denies hiding radiation report around Fukushima plant
http://mainichi.jp/english/english/newsselect/news/20140418p2g00m0dm082000c.html
TOKYO (Kyodo) -- Industry Minister Toshimitsu Motegi on Friday denied that the government hid for six months the outcome of a radiation study around the crisis-hit Fukushima Daiichi nuclear complex, but apologized for having given "the impression" that the outcome announcement delayed.
An interim report on the study on radiation measurement with dosimeters carried by individuals was compiled in October, showing that the radiation level in some areas in the city of Tamura and other villages is beyond 1 millisievert per year -- a level the government is eventually seeking to achieve in contaminated areas.
But the report was not made public before April 1 when the government lifted for the first time an evacuation order imposed on an area within a 20-kilometer radius of the Fukushima plant. The area was a district in Tamura.
"Some media have reported as if the government hid information or manipulated data, but that is not a fact," said the economy, trade and industry minister, who is also in charge of issues to assist people affected by the nuclear crisis.
But he also said, "I feel sorry for stirring concerns among people who got the impression that our information provision was delayed."
A government team decided to conduct the radiation study at 43 points in Tamura and the villages of Kawauchi and Iitate last July, hoping to address concerns among evacuees seeking to return to their homes. The study found that individual dose levels were above the usual-time limit of 1 millisievert per year at 27 measurement points.
The interim report was posted on the website of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry on Monday.
April 19, 2014(Mainichi Japan)
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