Five Years on and the Fukushima Crisis Is Far From Over

Published on Sunday, February 28, 2016 by Greenpeace Blog

By Shaun Burnie

Five years ago the Rainbow Warrior sailed along the Fukushima coast conducting radiation sampling. Now it's back, and has Japan's ex-Prime Minister on board.

Greenpeace ship Rainbow Warrior sailing past the destroyed Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, five years after the accident. Greenpeace has launched an underwater investigation into the marine impacts of radioactive contamination resulting from the 2011 nuclear disaster on the Pacific Ocean. (Photo: Christian Åslund/Greenpeace)

Scotland is over 9,000 km from Japan, but there’s something the two countries have in common. Along the Scottish coastline, buried in riverbeds, and mixed into the Irish Sea, you can find significant radioactive contamination coming from the other side of the world. Yes, radioactive contamination. All the way from Japan.

Since the 1970s, Sellafield, a nuclear-reprocessing plant in northwest England has been contracted to process high level nuclear waste spent fuel from Japanese reactors. More than 4000 tonnes of spent nuclear fuel was shipped from Japan to Sellafield, including waste from Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), the owner of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant. As result of reprocessing at Sellafield, more than 8 million litres of low level nuclear waste is discharged into the ocean every day. It’s been labelled the “most hazardous place in Europe” – with levels of contamination in the fields, soils and estuaries at a level that can only be described as a nuclear disaster zone. In fact, the Irish Sea is arguably the most radioactively contaminated sea in the world

We’re about to approach the five-year anniversary of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster, and this is a stark reminder that no matter where you are or how far away, nuclear power has a local and global impact.

I remember waking up to the news on March 11, 2011. Though I was at home in Scotland, I’ve never felt so connected to the people of Japan. Having spent decades with Greenpeace actively campaigning against nuclear power in Japan, I knew deep down that a catastrophic accident was only a matter of time. With media requests coming in thick and fast, I recall appearing on BBC World News live. In mid-interview, as I was talking about the specific threat at Fukushima, I was interrupted as the news crossed to Japan where Reactor 3 exploded.

Greenpeace Japan sent a team to the Fukushima evacuation zone to conduct independent radiation testing; and researchers on the Rainbow Warrior, kitted up in full body chemical suits, pulled floating seaweed from the surrounding area to use as samples. Our results were unfortunately as you would expect – high levels of contamination.  Subsequently, we’ve also found radiation is still so widespread that it’s unsafe for people to return across large parts of Fukushima.

But there’s another reason the Rainbow Warrior is here. A Greenpeace Japan research vessel is conducting underwater marine radiation surveys within a 20km radius of the Fukushima Daiichi plant, with the Rainbow Warrior acting as campaign ship. As with the radioactive contamination near my home in Scotland, Greenpeace is aiming to further the understanding of the impacts and future threats from nuclear power and in particular the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident.

For Mr Naoto Kan, who was Japan’s leader when the disaster hit, this voyage is as much personal as it is political. In the years since 2011  he has spoken out publicly against the nuclear industry, standing alongside millions of Japanese people opposed to nuclear power – a far cry from the current “tone-deaf” Abe administration, which is desperately trying to save a nuclear industry in crisis. Opposed by the majority of citizens, and beset by enormous technical, financial and legal obstacles, it’s an effort that I believe is doomed to failure.

But there’s hope.

Like the many communities across the country that are switching to innovative renewable power projects, Mr Kan knows that nuclear should be buried in the past. Renewables in Japan are rising. In the 2015 fiscal year, solar power capable of generating an estimated 13 TWh was newly installed – more than the two Sendai reactors in southern Japan that were restarted that year can produce.

For Japan to go 100% renewable it must urgently formulate more ambitious targets; stop all planned investments in new coal power plants and finally abandon plans to restart its aging reactors and remove the institutional and financial obstacles to renewable energy growth.

A nuclear free future is not only possible it is essential. Renewable energy is the only safe and secure energy for the people of Japan and the world.

University of Guam President Underwood Expresses Willingness to Partner with DoD on Research for Island Sustainability

Written by Jeff Marchesseault, Guam News Watch Anchor
Monday, September 20, 2010

GUAM - It's a delicate balance between the viable defense of a "free Pacific" and the quality of life rite here at home. As with anything worth having, there are trade-offs. Something's always got to give. As they say, freedom isn't free.

To balance the high cost of that freedom, local leverage and say-so are priceless tools for helping Guam's community get what it needs out of the buildup – namely affordable and sustainable supplies of energy, water, and land.

Perhaps that's one reason University of Guam (UOG) president Robert Underwood is pushing so hard to establish UOG as a Research and Development resource thru the university's center for island sustainability.

Underwood addressed Rotary Club of Northern Guam at the Hyatt Regency today, telling Rotarians that UOG aims to ensure we're able to use our resources today in ways that don't keep future generations from using those same resources.

"So, as we go through this process of creating the Center for Island Sustainability, we're reaching out to the broader community and we're creating a series of advisory councils. And we're inviting members of the business community, members of the activist community, just village mayors, anybody who's interested to become members of these advisory councils. So that as we set up our research and our educational, and our outreach activities, we get good faith participation from all of the sectors of the island and that it would have the desired effect."

"The University of Guam is willing to be a partner in the research. And I think it would really behoove the Department of Defense to engage us in a partner because when you have researchers who are from here, and researchers who are committed to a life here, then I think they'll do the very best by both the island and give the military honest research. And so our point in setting up the Center for Island Sustainability is to provide a venue for that."

Underwood told Guam News Watch that local officials' concerns over the potential radioactive contamination of Apra harbor is a case in point. That if qualified Guam-based authorities are concerned that dredging Apra could disturb suspected radioactive waste left over from nuclear testing in the Marshalls in the 1940's, then they could help the university solve the dilemma, through the Center for Island Sustainability.

Concerns mounting

Concerns mounting

Wednesday, 13 January 2010 04:27
by Therese Hart and Zita Taitano | Variety News Staff

Okkodo meeting draws huge crowd

LAST night’s public hearing on the draft environmental impact statement drew a bigger crowd at the Okkodo High School in Dededo, where lawmakers and community members weighed the pros and cons of the military buildup, bringing out more concerns and anger than unity and acceptance.

Last night’s meeting on the draft study hosted by the Joint Guam Program Office was the last for Guam. The next meetings will be held on Saipan and Tinian.

The military's testing of radioactive sediment at Apra Harbor where the two U.S. carriers will be berthed raised a serious cause for concern since they only dug one inch deep in grids of 36 square inches at 100 tested sites in that area, said Vice Speaker BJ Cruz.

Cruz testified that he was not in favor of the dredging unless the military can provide details of what they were dredging and the composite contents of the dredge.

Cruz said he was told in August that the sediment was tested and he was shown 10 grids that didn't have radioactive materials, because at that time, testing for radioactive sediment was not requested.

“The military only dug one inch deep, of course you're not going to find all the radioactive sediments in one inch of dredging,” said the lawmaker.

Cruz was told that it wasn't necessary to test any deeper than one inch since “that's the only thing the fish are going to get to.”

Cruz said that now that the military is digging deep and their own documents have reported spills in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s, it is cause for concern to know and document what is being dug up.

Offensive

Senator Frank Blas Jr. found disturbing and highly offensive a statement in the draft report that the political importance of some Chamorro issues would likely recede as the “militarization” of Guam is stabilized at something close to present levels.

Blas said the statement gave an impression that the promised increase in economic activity as a result of the buildup will compensate for the sufferings and the killing of family and relatives because of their loyalty to the U.S. during World War II.

“Your promise of economic activity does nothing for the many people who had their lands taken from them for military purposes only to see that those lands now sit dormant and selfishly held for no compelling reason,” Blas said.

Janet Perez Aguon, a retired military personnel, said holding the meetings was just a formality and the mission of the U.S. for the buildup is a “done deal.”

“This is psychological warfare. Serving in the military and retired, I know the war games they play- from the physical to the psychological. They don't care what you think or what you have to say or how you feel, because the military, once they decide to do something, they will do it,” said Aguon.

Moving on

Martin Benavente, chief of staff for Sen. Tina Muña-Barnes, said that he was in favor of the buildup.

“We need to do our part in making sure our country is ready to defend itself. We are Americans after all. I think the U.S. government needs to work it. There's no need for this grandstanding,” Benavente said.

“These meetings have brought out the anger of the local people. Work it out. It can be worked out. Stop it already and let’s move on, do what needs to be done. We shouldn't be talking so negatively and become divisive. We're not enemies, we're one. We're all Americans,” he added.

The young crowd

John Norman Sarmiento, 19, of Dededo said, “Quite frankly I think it’s unfair that they give us three minutes to speak on microphone and they use bullet points to explicate the draft report which is 11,000 pages long which is completely unfair to me.”

Alissa Eclavea of Yona and another friend, Anjelica Bamba from Maite attended the JGPO hearing with Sarmiento.

“I feel like we don’t have a say (as) youth,” Bamba said. “I just think it’s unfair. They didn’t ask us.”

Her 17-year old friend Eclavea concurred, further expressing her dissent over what she anticipates to be an unmanageable population explosion.

“We’re going to add more people to this island…80,000 more people,” Eclavea said. “We are going to have a new dump just for them and we can’t even afford our own debts yet we’re going to have them here. I believe that the process is just going to be ridiculous.”

Sarmiento cited a common perception among local residents over the military’s actions to acquire more land despite reiterating for years the lack of need for such a move.

“As far as the military buildup, I personally am opposed to it only because they’re threatening a lot of our land and there’s a lot of issues that surround that,” the 19-yer old Dededo resident said, “and there’s a lot of injustice going down with it.”

As the crowded public hearing got underway, another teenager from Dededo was one of the first to speak.

Fifteen year old Li-Yen Mai is half Chinese and half Chamorro. She expressed her concern over the potential loss of heritage sites of historic importance but told residents despite all the exasperation Chamorros should never give up the fight to protect their culture.

“Our Chamorro culture will only die if we let it,” the young girl said. “We still have a chance and I know that it’s in the Chamorro blood to not give up,” she said.

Misgivings

We Are Guahan organization members Monaeka De Oro, 24, and Eva Aguon Cruz, 22, were present in the crowd of hundreds and had reservations of their own about the buildup and its inevitable impact on Guam.

“No matter whom you are and no matter what you do, this buildup will affect everybody and everything on Guam and the rest of the Marianas. We’ll never be the same with 80,000 more people and with all the other plans that they have here,” said De Oro.

Cruz doubts the true purpose is to solicit constructive input. “It seems in actuality that this is just protocol,” Cruz said. “It is something the federal government has to do just so they can say they listened to us.”