The following is a summarized report from Mr. Tom Atkinson, a British
photographer, based in Tokyo. He has attended a press conference held at
the UK Embassy in Tokyo yesterday. FYI. Please share this with your family,
friends and colleges who is looking for some accurate information. Thank
you, Yukiko Harada
(report to follow)
I have just returned from a conference call held at the British Embassy in
Tokyo. The call was concerning the nuclear issue in Japan. The chief
spokesman was Sir. John Beddington, Chief Scientific Adviser to the UK
Government, and he was joined by a number of qualified nuclear experts based
in the UK. Their assessment of the current situation in Japan is as follows:
* In case of a 'reasonable worst case scenario' (defined as total meltdown
of one reactor with subsequent radioactive explosion) an exclusion zone of
30 miles (50km) would be the maximum required to avoid affecting peoples'
health. Even in a worse situation (loss of two or more reactors) it is
unlikely that the damage would be significantly more than that caused by the
loss of a single reactor.
* The current 20km exclusion zone is appropriate for the levels of
radiation/risk currently experienced, and if the pouring of sea water can be
maintained to cool the reactors, the likelihood of a major incident should
be avoided. A further large quake with tsunami could lead to the suspension
of the current cooling operations, leading to the above scenario.
* The bottom line is that these experts do not see there being a possibility
of a health problem for residents in Tokyo. The radiation levels would need
to be hundreds of times higher than current to cause the possibility for
health issues, and that, in their opinion, is not going to happen (they were
talking minimum levels affecting pregnant women and children - for normal
adults the levels would need to be much higher still).
* The experts do not consider the wind direction to be material. They say
Tokyo is too far away to be materially affected.
* If the pouring of water can be maintained the situation should be much
improved after ten days, as the reactors' cores cool down.
* Information being provided by Japanese authorities is being independently
monitored by a number of organizations and is deemed to be accurate, as far
as measures of radioactivity levels are concerned.
* This is a very different situation from Chernobyl, where the reactor went
into meltdown and the encasement, which exploded, was left to burn for weeks
without any control. Even with Chernobyl, an exclusion zone of 30 miles
would have been adequate to protect human health. The problem was that most
people became sick from eating contaminated food, crops, milk and water in
the region for years afterward, as no attempt was made to measure
radioactivity levels in the food supply at that time or warn people of the
dangers. The secrecy over the Chernobyl explosion is in contrast to the very
public coverage of the Fukushima crisis.
* The Head of the British School asked if the school should remain closed.
The answer was there is no need to close the school due to fears of
radiation. There may well be other reasons - structural damage or possible
new quakes - but the radiation fear is not supported by scientific measures,
even for children.
* Regarding Iodine supplementation, the experts said this was only necessary
for those who had inhaled quantities of radiation (those in the exclusion
zone or workers on the site) or through consumption of contaminated
food/water supplies. Long term consumption of iodine is, in any case, not
healthy.
The discussion was surprisingly frank and to the point. The conclusion of
the experts is that the damage caused by the earthquake and tsunami, as well
as the subsequent aftershocks, was much more of an issue than the fear of
radiation sickness from the nuclear plants.
Let's hope the experts are right!
LAST ＲＵＮ 
先日、急遽行われた青ネギ206号のお別れ会。
---C2・OB会 ツールド昼箱---
