福島復興を演出する政権　避難者少なく見えるカラクリ via 朝日新聞

Posted on 2019/05/20 by yukimiyamotodepaul

首相、事故現場にスーツで　炉内の燃料、取り出し方針は未定

世界最悪レベルの事故を起こした東京電力福島第一原発。４月１４日、メルトダウンした１～３号機から１００メートルほど離れた海抜３５メートルの高台に、安倍晋三首相は防護服とマスクをつけず、スーツ姿で車から降り立った。

東電側から廃炉作業の現状について説明を受けた首相は「防護服に身を固めることなく、スーツ姿で見られるようになった。着実に廃炉作業も進んでいる」。視察後の作業員らとの懇談でも「５年前に視察した時は防護服に身を固めた。今回はスーツ姿で視察ができた」と繰り返した。

５年半ぶりとなる原発視察。首相周辺は、防護服やマスクをつけない姿をメディアに取り上げさせることで見栄えを良くし、「復興の進み具合をアピールすること」を狙ったと認める。

だが、１～３号機周辺の屋外で、防護服とマスクをつけないことが許されるのはバスの車内と視察用の高台だけで、高台視察は６分ほど。高台の放射線量は毎時１００マイクロシーベルト超と高く、長居は許されない。

スーツ姿が可能になったのは、飛び散った放射性物質が舞わないように地面がモルタルなどで覆われたことが主因で、廃炉作業の主眼である燃料デブリは炉心に残ったまま。周辺の線量は極めて高く、取り出し方法すら決まっていない。

（略）

しかし、避難指示が出た地域の住民登録は約７万１千人で、実際に住むのは約１万１千人。約６万人が原発事故前の居住地を離れている計算だ。復興庁の数字とは約２万人のズレがある。今も避難指示が出ているにもかかわらず、「避難者」として数えられていない人たちがいる。

復興庁は１４年８月、避難者を数える全都道府県に対し、「避難者」を「震災をきっかけに住居の移転を行い、その後、前の住居に戻る意思を有するもの」と定義した通知を送った。意思の把握が難しい場合は、家を買うことなどで「避難終了」とみなしてよいという趣旨も記した。

福島県ではこの通知を根拠に、避難先で家を買った人、復興公営住宅や災害公営住宅で暮らす人を「生活が安定した」として「避難者」として数えない。

県は「統計から外れても支援は継続しているので問題ない」と説明。復興庁は「各都道府県の判断なのであれこれ言う立場にない」。だが、県は帰還の意思確認はしておらず、統計から外す際に、本人に対する通知もしていない。

避難が長引き、本当は帰還を望みながらも家を買った人は少なくない。その一人、大熊町に住んでいた山崎由美子さん（５２）の自宅は帰還困難区域内にある。

町外の復興公営住宅に入居したため、復興庁や県の統計上は「避難者」ではない。「好きで町を離れているわけではない。避難者を減らして表面を取り繕おうとしているのが見え見えだ。避難をなかったことにするのは許せない」

（略）

安倍晋三首相の「復興」「福島」関連発言
●【２０１９年１月　施政方針演説】
「日本にやってくる復興五輪。その聖火リレーは福島からスタートします。最初の競技も福島で行われます。復興した東北の姿を世界に発信しようではありませんか」
●【１７年１１月　参院本会議】
「福島では帰還困難区域を除くほとんどの地域で避難指示が解除され、復興再生に向けた動きが本格化しております」
●【１５年２月　施政方針演説】
「福島を、世界最先端の研究、新産業が生まれる地へと再生する。原発事故で被害を受けた浜通り地域に、ロボット関連産業などの集積を進める」
●【１３年１０月　参院予算委員会】
「福島の再生なくして日本の復興なし。これが基本だ」
●【１３年９月　東京五輪・パラリンピック招致演説】
「（第一原発の汚染水の）状況はコントロールされている。決して東京にダメージを与えることを許さない」
●【１２年１０月　野党自民党総裁として野田佳彦首相（当時）への衆院本会議での質問】
「自民党が政権を回復した暁には、現場主義で真の復興を実行する決意があることを宣言する」

石塚大樹、石塚広志、太田成美 

全文は福島復興を演出する政権　避難者少なく見えるカラクリ

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オープンフォーラムプロジェクト＠郡山対話の会

Posted on 2019/05/19 by nfield

～～ひとり一人の声に耳を傾ける対話～～

「あれから８年、震災で気づいたこと。」

（変わった事。変わらない事。）＜拡散希望＞

【日　時】2019年５月２６日（日）　

午前の部：10：00~

Lunch Time ：13：00～14：00

午後の部：14：00~17：00（延長もあり）

途中入退場ＯＫです

午前のみ、午後のみ、一日参加どちらでも歓迎します。

【場　所】郡山市小原田公民館　和室２

所在地／〒963-8835 福島県郡山市小原田４丁目３−４

最寄りバス停(小原田四丁目 図景二丁目 小原田一丁目 )

【参加費】500円（場所代等）

【主　催】郡山対話の会

震災から８年目の３月・・・

　「ふさいだ口をパット開いてみる」というテーマで対話をしてみたら、ビックリ箱が開いたように、いろんな思いがあふれてきました。

　故郷から避難して、「ふるさと」の大切さに気づいた人がいました。

　いざとなれば国は国民を守ってくれるという神話は幻影だっと気づかされた人がいました。

　震災はネガティブなことだけじゃなく、本当の自分に出会うターニングポイントだった言う人がいました。

　３，１１の震災は「人生最大の出来事」であったかもしれないし、「もう終わって通り過ぎていった事」かもしれないし、「我人生にはもっと大きな出来事がある。」と言いたい人もいるかもしれません。

　例えば・・・

Ａさん：行政に任せっきりの受け身な態度で、他人の責任は追及するが、自分の責任はあいまいにしている自分に気づいた。

Ｂさん：東電や国って、そういう、個の責任感からくる感情的反応を多少、利用してない？？

Ｃさん：えーなんかさ、さっきから聞いていると「自分はやってきたけど、あんたはどーなんだ？」って上から目線で責められているみたいで。凹むわ～。私なんか、知識が低くて知性が乏しくて、浅いわよ。行政やお国がやってるんだから大丈夫なんじゃないの？って信じてきた。そのために税金を払ってるんじゃないの。

[…]

全文

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I oversaw the U.S. nuclear power industry. Now I think it should be banned. via the Washington Post

Posted on 2019/05/19 by nfield

The danger from climate change no longer outweighs the risks of nuclear accidents.

By Gregory Jaczko

Gregory Jaczko served on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission from 2005 to 2009, and as its chairman from 2009 to 2012. The author of “Confessions of a Rogue Nuclear Regulator,” he is the founder of Wind Future LLC and teaches at Georgetown University and Princeton University.

Nuclear power was supposed to save the planet. The plants that used this technology could produce enormous amounts of electricity without the pollution caused by burning coal, oil or natural gas, which would help slow the catastrophic changes humans have forced on the Earth’s climate. As a physicist who studied esoteric properties of subatomic particles, I admired the science and the technological innovation behind the industry. And by the time I started working on nuclear issues on Capitol Hill in 1999 as an aide to Democratic lawmakers, the risks from human-caused global warming seemed to outweigh the dangers of nuclear power, which hadn’t had an accident since Chernobyl, 13 years earlier.

By 2005, my views had begun to shift.

I’d spent almost four years working on nuclear policy and witnessed the influence of the industry on the political process. Now I was serving on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, where I saw that nuclear power was more complicated than I knew; it was a powerful business as well as an impressive feat of science. In 2009, President Barack Obama named me the agency’s chairman. 

[…]

But fission reactors have a dark side, too: If the energy they produce is not closely controlled, they can fail in catastrophic ways that kill people and render large tracts of land uninhabitable. Nuclear power is also the path to nuclear weapons, themselves an existential threat. 

As the certainty of climate change grew clearer, nuclear power presented a dilemma for environmentalists: Was the risk of accidents or further spread of nuclear weapons greater than the hazard of climate change? In the late 2000s, the arguments in support of nuclear power were gaining traction with Congress, academia and even some environmentalists, as the Chernobyl accident faded into the past and the effects of climate change became harder to ignore. No new plants had been proposed in decades, because of the industry’s dismal record of construction oversight and cost controls, but now utilities were beginning to pitch new reactors — as many as 30 around the country.

[…]

Most have not returned, because only select areas have been remediated, making the surrounding region seem like a giant chessboard with hazardous areas next to safer ones. The crisis hobbled the Japanese economy for years. The government estimated that the accident would cost at least $180 billion. Independent estimates suggest that the cost could be three times more. 

[…]

The industry wanted the NRC to say that everything was fine and nothing needed to change. So my colleagues on the commission and supporters of the industry pushed to license the first of these projects without delay and stonewalled implementation of the safety reforms. My colleagues objected to making the staff report public. I ultimately prevailed, but then the lobbying intensified: The industry almost immediately started pushing back on the staff report. They lobbied the commission and enlisted allies in Congress to disapprove, water down or defer many of the recommendations.

Within a year of the accident at Fukushima — and over my objections — the NRC implemented just a few of the modest safety reforms that the agency’s employees had proposed, and then approved the first four new reactor licenses in decades, in Georgia and in South Carolina.

[…]

In the months after the accident, all nuclear reactors in Japan were shuttered indefinitely, eliminating production of almost all of the country’s carbon-free electricity and about 30 percent of its total electricity production. Naturally, carbon emissions rose, and future emissions-reduction targets were slashed. 

[…]

Would shutting down plants all over the world lead to similar results? Eight years after Fukushima, that question has been answered. Fewer than 10 of Japan’s 50 reactors have resumed operations, yet the country’s carbon emissions have dropped below their levels before the accident. How? Japan has made significant gains in energy efficiency and solar power. It turns out that relying on nuclear energy is actually a bad strategy for combating climate change: One accident wiped out Japan’s carbon gains. Only a turn to renewables and conservation brought the country back on target.

[…]

In 2016, observing these trends, I launched a company devoted to building offshore wind turbines. My journey, from admiring nuclear power to fearing it, was complete: This tech is no longer a viable strategy for dealing with climate change, nor is it a competitive source of power. It is hazardous, expensive and unreliable, and abandoning it wouldn’t bring on climate doom.

The real choice now is between saving the planet and saving the dying nuclear industry. I vote for the planet.

Read more.

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Contamination events force project shut down at Hanford nuclear site via King 5 News

Posted on 2019/05/18 by nfield

By Susannah Frame

Two contamination events have happened at the Hanford nuclear site in eastern Washington while employees of government contractor CH2M Hill were working on the most radioactive building on the reservation. Building 324, located near the Columbia River and a mile away from the town of Richland, has the most lethal contamination of any building at Hanford. 

It’s a defunct research laboratory that dealt with some of the worst waste created during the bomb making era.

The public was not put at risk and no workers appear to have been injured or sickened, but the events are a warning call, according to workers who spoke to KING 5 and advocates.

“It’s pretty close to populated areas, and it’s a very, very large inventory of radioactive waste,’ said Tom Carpenter, executive director of the advocacy group, Hanford Challenge. “Because of the levels of contamination and where it’s situated, (the project is) a top, top concern.”

Workers were trying to stabilize the building in preparation for the demolition of Building 324. On March 13, workers found spots of contamination on equipment and other locations in the building. 

The radioactive material was pure Strontium 90, one of the most lethal, unstable radioactive isotopes used in the process to produce plutonium at Hanford during World War II and throughout the Cold War.

The contractor did not expect to find Strontium 90, but instead of stopping work to increase safety controls, the work continued.

“They should have stopped the work. No one was hurt, but they found Strontium 90. That wasn’t expected. The safest thing to do would have been to stop and increase safety controls for the workers. Instead, they waited another month,” said one worker, who asked to not be identified for fear of retaliation.What is Hanford? 

A month later the contractor put a “stop work” on the project after more Strontium 90 was found on the clothing of a worker.

“What worries us is what appears to be a pretty cavalier attitude about safety,” said Carpenter.

“I’m worried about the work going forward,” said the worker who asked for anonymity. “You could not put a human anywhere near the contaminated soil under the building. This is the highest (level of radioactivity) I’ve ever seen in over 30 years at Hanford.”

CH2 M Hill is the same government contractor who came under intense criticism in 2017 for badly botching another dangerous job: the demolition of a complex called the Plutonium Finishing Plant (PFP.) Poor safety controls led to the airborne release of plutonium. Radioactive particles escaped the project perimeter on multiple occasions. Cars were contaminated. Contamination was accidentally transferred into Richland, and 41 workers tested positive for inhalation (internal contamination) of radioactive particles.

“I’m scared, like we all are, that sooner or later it’s going to bite me and I’m going to end up with cancer,” said one worker who was internally contaminated in 2017.

The contractor failed to alert a Hanford advisory board or the public about the Building 324 contamination events in March and April. Workers who spoke to KING and Hanford Challenge’s Carpenter said that was a mistake.

[…]


Read more

““There are in the United States, no documented cases of cancer from Strontium 90 contamination,” said Darrell Fisher, a prominent Richland-based medical physicist.” via Worker at Hanford contaminated at lab scheduled for demolition

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Soaring costs but limited progress in cleanup of “scariest” nuclear sites via Salon

Posted on 2019/05/18 by nfield

By Phil Zahodiakin

[…]

Testifying last week before the House Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, a GAO official said that for reasons that are unclear, estimated cleanup costs at the 16 ”biggest and scariest sites” have increased by $214 billion despite the Department of Energy (DOE) spending $48 billion since 2011.

[…]

Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) asked Trimble and Ann Marie White, director of the DOE’s Office of Environmental Management how they would “explain to the taxpayers this astonishing cost increase when the number of cleanup sites hasn’t changed.” White replied that the 56 million gallons of radioactive liquids and sludge in the underground tanks at the immense Hanford Nuclear Reservation in southeastern Washington are driving “much of the increase.”

[…]

Rep. Ann M. Kuster (D-N.H.) pointed out that, besides costs, the risk of accidents or sabotage at the 16 sites  only increases with time. And Trimble drew an analogy to a type of mortgage popular during the housing bubble of the early 2000s.

By spending billions to contain radioactive soil, water, and nuclear materials at their sites of origin without a path to completing cleanups, “There’s a danger that, at some point, the dynamic starts to look like an interest-only loan that doesn’t require you to pay down the principal amount of the loan,” Trimble said.

Trimble said he was encouraged by DOE’s willingness to accept management improvements recommended by GAO

Rep. Ann M. Kuster (D-N.H.) pointed out that, besides costs, the risk of accidents or sabotage at the 16 sites  only increases with time. And Trimble drew an analogy to a type of mortgage popular during the housing bubble of the early 2000s.

By spending billions to contain radioactive soil, water, and nuclear materials at their sites of origin without a path to completing cleanups, “There’s a danger that, at some point, the dynamic starts to look like an interest-only loan that doesn’t require you to pay down the principal amount of the loan,” Trimble said.

But Ed Lyman, acting director of the nuclear safety project for the Union of Concerned Scientists, told Fair Warning that “GAO issues one report after another about DOE’s mismanagement of the nuclear cleanup program but the reports don’t seem to move the ball.”

Pointing out that the experiments to condense and vitrify (or turn into glass) the liquid wastes at Hanford and Savannah River, S.C., “have not been going well,” Lyman added that the long disposal delays leave the safety of the sites in a nether world of “borrowed time.

Besides Hanford, where cleanup activities are expected to continue at least until 2070,  and the Savannah River Nuclear Reservation, which will keep producing radioactive tritium during its cleanup, some of the other, major sites among the 16 left to clean up include the World War 2-era facility in Oak Ridge, Tenn.; and the gaseous diffusion plants in Piketon, Ohio and Paducah, Ky.: formerly principal source of enriched uranium.

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What ‘Game of Thrones’ Taught Us About Nuclear Devastation via The Daily Beast

Posted on 2019/05/18 by yukimiyamotodepaul

The destruction that happened in King’s Landing can happen in our world, too, writes Beatrice Fihn, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2017.

“Atomic bombs are primarily a means for the ruthless annihilation of cities.”

Famed physicist Leo Szilard wrote those words in 1945, entreating President Harry Truman to give Japan a chance to surrender before using the nuclear weapons Szilard had been instrumental in developing. His words rang in my head as Tyrion tried and failed to convince Daenerys to spare the surrendering King’s Landing from her dragon’s fire in the latest Game of Thrones episode, “The Bells.”

There is a significant difference between weapons of war and nuclear weapons. The former target their opponent’s military force. The latter yield absolute and indiscriminate power to kill civilians. Harry Truman admitted that nuclear weapons were created for the destruction of cities when he said, “You have got to understand that this isn’t a military weapon. It is used to wipe out women and children and unarmed people, and not for military uses.”

[…]

A modern nuclear weapon would also, essentially, breathe fire: it would cause a fireball burning 10,000 times stronger than the surface of the sun, incinerating everyone and everything within nearly a mile. That heat would cause third-degree burns in a radius of 50 square miles and the shock wave would flatten most buildings within 10 miles of ground zero. In Nagasaki, ground temperatures reached 7,000°F and radioactive rain poured down. 70 percent of all buildings were razed in Hiroshima including 42 out of the city’s 45 hospitals. These facts have led the UN and ICRC to state that in the event of a nuclear bombing, no help is coming.

It’s worth noting that although Trump has been criticized for spending large sums on new nuclear weapons, the Nuclear Modernization Program was actually started by the Obama administration, with support from both secretaries of state, John Kerry and Hillary Clinton and it’s unlikely a Hillary Clinton presidency would look much different on the issue of nuclear weapons than a Trump one.

[…]

And yet, ironically, abolishing nuclear weapons is a feminist issue, because nuclear fallout disproportionately affects women. Women in Hiroshima and Nagasaki had nearly double the risk of developing and dying from solid cancer due to ionizing radiation exposure. Girls are considerably more likely than boys to develop thyroid cancer from nuclear fallout. Pregnant women exposed to nuclear radiation face a greater likelihood of delivering children with physical malformations and stillbirths, leading to increased maternal mortality. And the list goes on.

[…]

We already have a plan to eliminate our dragons. 122 states voted in favor of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons at the UN in 2017. 23 states have already ratified the treaty and it will become international law once 50 do. When asked why they supported the treaty, the diplomats and leaders all said the same thing: they were compelled to sign after learning about the ruthless devastation that nuclear weapons cause. A real hero doesn’t unleash a dragon. A real hero picks up a pen. The truly radical action is just that: a signature.

In our world and in the world of Game of Thrones, there are characters in the shadows, negotiating behind the scenes for a peace that will save innocent lives. That’s what bravery looks like. Those are the heroes we need. Rest in Peace, Lord Varys.

Beatrice Fihn is the Executive Director of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize 2017.

Read more at What ‘Game of Thrones’ Taught Us About Nuclear Devastation

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神奈川）学生と原発視察重ねる　福島のアナ・大和田さん via 朝日新聞

Posted on 2019/05/18 by yukimiyamotodepaul

（抜粋）

４月１６日、大和田さんは横浜市港北区に住む慶応大３年の秋圭史さん（２１）と東京都内に実家がある福島大４年の川島史奈さん（２１）を連れて同原発の構内に入った。大和田さんに同行するのは４度目という川島さんが、学生間のコミュニティーで知人だった秋さんを誘った。

大和田さんは構内に入る前、爆発事故に伴う放射性物質の拡散で現在も帰還困難区域になっている福島県浪江町の山中や、津波の大被害を受けた同町沿岸部に２人を連れて行き、被災地の現状を見せた。

３人は構内に入ると、爆発した原子炉建屋のすぐ脇や汚染水タンク群の一角にも足を運び、場所によってはマスクとヘルメットも着用して東電職員からレクチャーを受けながら廃炉作業を見つめた。休憩時は、作業員と同様に温かい昼食も口にした。

秋さんは「思ったよりも作業が進んでいて、現場に閉塞（へいそく）感がない」と感想を語った。「日常の会話で福島第一原発の話題が出ることはなく、原発に対する印象も事故当時のままだった。正直、『怖いもの見たさ』もあったが、現場で見聞きすることの大切さがよくわかり、来てよかった」。原子力発電のあり方について「今後も自分なりに考えたい」とも語った。

卒業後は報道の仕事に就きたいという川島さんも「原発という、だれでも来られるわけではない現場で見聞きできることは貴重」と話した。

東電によれば、大和田さんは記録が残る１６年度以降、３０回以上同原発の構内を訪れている。大和田さんは福島大で非常勤講師を務め、学生との接点も多く、学生を同行したのは４月１６日で２０回目という。

大和田さんは「（原発事故の）負の遺産を、後世の人たちに押しつけるだけでいいのかという疑問から始めた」。同行を希望する大学生は増えているという。

一方で大和田さんは、大学生に「自分自身で保護者を説得してからの参加」を義務づける。真剣な問題意識を持って参加するべきだとの考えから、「放射能と放射線の違い」など基礎知識を身につけてから参加することも求める。「興味本位で捉えられないほどの事態に至っているとの認識を持ってほしい」という。

東電によると、同原発の敷地の約９６％が、一般作業服で対応可能。除染も進み、４月１６日は構内にいた約２時間で被曝（ひばく）量は約４０マイクロシーベルトと、歯科でＸ線撮影を１回行う程度で健康に影響はないという。

「（学生たちには）原発への賛否を超えて、感じたままを多くの人に伝えてほしい」と大和田さん。今後もライフワークとして学生たちを連れて行く考えだ。（岩堀滋）

全文は神奈川）学生と原発視察重ねる　福島のアナ・大和田さん

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いま、あらためて振り返る 原発事故避難のこと　「ないこと」にされた被ばくのこと[講演会 ] via FoE Japan

Posted on 2019/05/17 by nfield

原発事故が万が一生じてしまったとき、住民が避難する際、「スクリーニング（避難時汚染検査）」が行われることになっています。高濃度の放射性物質が浮遊する中を避難した人たちが、体に放射性物質を付着したまま避難することを防ぐため、また、住民が内部被ばくしてしまっている場合は早期に発見し、医療的措置につなげるためーーの２つの目的があります。福島原発事故当時のマニュアルでは、スクリーニングで一定（13000cpm）以上の値を示した場合、いったん除染し、再検査をし、もし再度同じ値を計測した場合は、内部被ばくを疑って処置を行うことになっていました。 ところが、福島第一原発事故の際、この基準が10万cpmに引き上げられたばかりか、マニュアルで定められていた除染後の再検査や記録を住民に渡すという手続きがスキップされていたのです。これをスクープしたのが、東京新聞が今年1月から3月にかけて連載した「背信の果て」です。 このたび、この問題に焦点を当てた講演会を企画しました。避難当事者の菅野みずえさん、また渾身の取材で「背信の果て」を書いた榊原崇仁さんにお話しいただきます。 「隠された初期被ばく」に焦点をあてつつも、菅野さんには、原発事故発生当時のこと、避難の際のあれこれについて、より広くお話しいただきます。ぜひお越しください。

※なお、諸般の事情から、映像中継や映像のインターネットでの公開はお断りしております。

日　時2019年5月27日（月）18:30～20:30
会　場文京区区民会議室５C＞ 地図 
（東京メトロ・後楽園駅徒歩１分　都営線・春日駅徒歩１分　文京シビックセンター５Ｆ ）
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東海第２原発 再稼働を考える　１９日に「県民投票フェス」　市民団体が水戸で開催　／茨城 via 毎日新聞

Posted on 2019/05/16 by yukimiyamotodepaul

日本原子力発電東海第２原発（東海村）の再稼働の是非を問う住民投票の実現を目指す市民団体が１９日、県水戸生涯学習センター（水戸市三の丸１）でイベント「県民投票フェス」を開く。予約不要で参加無料。原発や県民投票について広く知ってもらうのが狙い。

　市民団体は「いばらき原発県民投票の会」。住民投票条例を制定し、県民による住民投票を目指している。１０月に署名活動を開始し、来年２月に知事へ直接請求を行いたい考えだ。

フェスには、原発の周辺住民の調査を続ける茨城大の渋谷敦司教授（社会学）が参加する。渋谷教授は昨年１２月～今年１月、東海村、日立市、那珂市、ひたちなか市の住民４０００人（回答者９５８人）を対象に意識調査を実施。東海第２の再稼働について、回答者の７割強が自治体の判断ではなく、直接住民の意向を確認する必要があると答えたという。

（略）

県民投票の会の鵜沢恵一・共同代表は「再稼働に賛成の人も反対の人も率直に語り合える場にしたい」と話している。

団体は直接請求に向けて、署名を集める「受任者」を募集中。県内各地で勉強会「県民投票カフェ」（予約不要・参加無料）も開催している。カフェの時間と場所は同会ホームページで確認できる。【吉田卓矢】

全文は東海第２原発 再稼働を考える　１９日に「県民投票フェス」　市民団体が水戸で開催　／茨城

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UN chief concerned nuclear ‘coffin’ leaking in Pacific via Phys.org

Posted on 2019/05/16 by yukimiyamotodepaul

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres raised concerns Thursday that a concrete dome built last century to contain waste from atomic bomb tests is leaking radioactive material into the Pacific.

Speaking to students in Fiji, Guterres described the structure on Enewetak atoll in the Marshall Islands as “a kind of coffin” and said it was a legacy of Cold War-era nuclear tests in the Pacific

“The Pacific was victimised in the past as we all know,” he said, referring to nuclear explosionscarried out by the United States and France in the region.

In the Marshalls, numerous islanders were forcibly evacuated from ancestral lands and resettled, while thousands more were exposed to radioactive fallout.

The island nation was ground zero for 67 American nuclear weapons tests from 1946-58 at Bikini and Enewetak atolls, when it was under US administration. 

The tests included the 1954 “Bravo” hydrogen bomb, the most powerful ever detonated by the United States, about 1,000 times bigger than the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima.

[…]

“I’ve just been with the President of the Marshall Islands (Hilda Heine), who is very worried because there is a risk of leaking of radioactive materials that are contained in a kind of coffin in the area.”

The “coffin” is a concrete dome, built in the late 1970s on Runit island, part of Enewetak atoll, as a dumping ground for waste from the nuclear tests.

Radioactive soil and ash from the explosions was tipped into a crater and capped with a concrete dome 45 centimetres (18 inches) thick.

However, it was only envisaged as a temporary fix and the bottom of the crater was never lined leading to fears the waste is leaching into the Pacific.

Cracks have also developed in the concrete after decades of exposure and there are concerns it could break apart if hit by a tropical cyclone.

Read more at UN chief concerned nuclear ‘coffin’ leaking in Pacific

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