Should the public be allowed to see the radio-contamination map ?

We are publishing the most recent map of the soil contamination made by the “Fukuichi area environmental radiation monitoring project“.

 

「ふくいち周辺環境放射線モニタリングプロジェクト」作成の最新の土壌汚染マップをアップいたします。

Tomioka soil constamination map M

 

富岡町土壌マップ M

 

We have published several soil contamination maps of the “Fukuichi area environmental radiation monitoring project” in this blog (see maps of Namie, Minamisoma 1 & 2 ). Normally, the government should carry out the measurements, but the government relies on the air radiation dose measurements at the expense of the radio-contamination measurements found on the surface and in the air (in terms of the volume of radioactive substances). To fulfill the lack of this essential information for the radioprotection of the population, civil groups conduct soil measurements.

このブログで紹介してきた「ふくいち周辺環境放射線モニタリングプロジェクト」の土壌汚染マップですが（浪江町、南相馬市 1 & 2 ）、もともと国や地方自治体が実施すべき測定です。しかし、政府は空間線量率の測定のみを優先し、表面（土壌を含む）や空間の汚染密度をニグレクトしています。そのため住民の放射線防護に不可欠の情報が欠如しています。この情報不備を補完するため、市民団体が測定を 実行しているのが現状です。

Continue reading “Should the public be allowed to see the radio-contamination map ?”

No way to find hot spots with dosimeter at 1m from the ground

We have published several articles in this blog saying that to protect the population the Japanese goverment should take into account the soil contamination as well as the radiation dose in the air.  The policy to open the evacuation zones and encourage the population to return to live there (with the end of financial compensation and relocation aid) is based only on the airborn radiation dose measurements (the evacuation order is lifted when the radiation dose is under 20mSv/year).  We have been saying that this is very dangerous, even  criminal, for the air radiation dose rate (indicating the amount of radioactive dose received by a person within a certin period time) is useful with a well-identfied fixed source of radiation, but is not adequate to reveal the overall environmental contamination after a nuclear accident. It doesn’t account for the internal radiation exposure induced health hazards (note 1).

Now we would like to point out another problem related to hotspots: it is nearly impossible to find hotspots by the usual measuring practice of the airborn radiation dose rate (in sieverts per unit of time).  To illustrate this difficulty, we are translating here a Facebook post of Mr Yoichi Ozawa of the citizen’s measurement group named the “Fukuichi Area Environmental Radiation Monitoring Project“.

私たちはこのブログで何度か日本政府は、日本の住民を護るために空間線量率だけでなく土壌汚染も考慮に入れるべきだと書いてきました。避難指示を解除し、住民をそこに戻そうとする帰還政策（賠償打ち切りと住宅支援停止を伴う）は、空間線量率のみに基づいています（年間20ミリシーベルト以下であれば避難指示解除）。私たちはこれは大変危険で、国家の犯罪だと言ってきました。なぜならば、線源が明確で、固定されている場合に有効な空間線量率だけをみることは、原発事故後の環境の全体的放射能汚染の実態を把握するには不適切で、内部被ばくによる健康被害リスクを隠蔽することになるからです（注1）。

今回はホットスポットに関する問題を指摘したいと考えます。通常の空間線量率（分、時間、年あたりのシーベルト）の測定ではホットスポットを発見するのはほぼ不可能なのです。
この難しさがよくわかる、ふくいち周辺環境放射線モニタリングプロジェクトの小澤洋一さんのフェイスブックの投稿を訳させていただきます。

Continue reading “No way to find hot spots with dosimeter at 1m from the ground”

Testimony of a mother who evacuated from Tokyo

Listen to her testimony (in English).
She evacuated from Tokyo to Kobe in west Japan to protect her daughter.
The contamination does not stop at the Fukushima department border. Tokyo is also contaminated.

Transcription (note 1):

I am standing here to tell you that the Fukushima nuclear catastrophe is not over.
I evacuated to Kansai (note2), three years after the Fukushima nuclear power plant accident.

Where do you think I evacuated from?
I evacuated from Tokyo!

Do you know that Tokyo has serious radioactive contamination？
Tens of millions of people in east Japan live with radioactive contamination now.

I have a daughter who was 5 years old at the time of the accident.
She became very sick one year after the accident.
In fact, my daughter became so sick that she could not live a normal life at all.
However, when she stayed in a place where there was no radioactive contamination, my daughter became so well. But when we returned to Tokyo, my daughter became sick again.
We did not have the option to stay in Tokyo, we just fled from Tokyo and came here.

Continue reading “Testimony of a mother who evacuated from Tokyo”

Newspaper changes an “annoying” photo

新聞が「迷惑な」写真を差し替え

Facts are disappearing from the media  報道から消えていくファクト

When we are outside of Fukushima, or of Japan, it is difficult for us to realize to what extent it has become difficult to speak of radio-contamination and the risk of exposure.

福島の、いや日本の外にいると放射能汚染や被ばくリスクについて語ることがどれだけ難しくなっているかがわかりません。

To illustrate this, we are reporting on the case of a photo replacement in the Mainichi Shimbun. This took place only in the Japanese edition. The original photo seems to have remained in the English edition.

その例を示すために、毎日新聞の写真差し替えの件をレポートしたいと思います。なお、写真差し替えは日本語版だけのようです。

On October 21, the Mainichi Shimbun reported the reopening of a part of the JR East line under the title: “JR East partially reopens line halted since 2011 nuclear disaster“. In this article, the Mainichi published a photo of a train leaving the newly opened Tomioka station. (If it is impossible to open the article, here is the web archive).

毎日新聞は10月21日付でJR常磐線富岡ー竜田間の再開を報じました。この中に富岡駅を出る電車の写真が掲載されています。(リンクが切れている時にはこちらのウェブアーカイブをごらんください。)

Continue reading “Newspaper changes an “annoying” photo”

New study says Minami-soma as safe as Western Japan cities – do they really expect us to believe this?

新しい調査によると、南相馬市は西日本の都市と同じくらい安全だそうです。こんな調査結果が信じられるでしょうか？

On September 5, 2017, Minami-soma city made a statement on the city’s radiation levels compared to 3 cities in West Japan, which has been reported in several newspapers. It’s important to comment on this study because the statement is intended to persuade the population to return to live there.

We are publishing comments on the articles below after having discussed with M. Ozawa of the citizen’s measurement group named the “Fukuichi Area Environmental Radiation Monitoring Project“. For English speaking readers, please refer to the article of Asahi Shimbun in English. For our arguments we refer to other articles published in other newspapers – Fukushima Minyu and Fukushima Minpo – which are only in Japanese.

2017年9月5日、南相馬市は同市と西日本の３市の外部被曝ばく線量を測定し、その結果について発表しました。いくつかの新聞が報道しています。この発表は住民帰還を促す意図を持っていますので、コメントすることが重要かと思われます。

Continue reading “New study says Minami-soma as safe as Western Japan cities – do they really expect us to believe this?”

Olympic games in Fukushima: Is it safe?

福島でオリンピックゲーム。安全なのか？

Fukushima city is going to host Olympic baseball and softball games in 2020.
What is the level of radio-contamination there? This is the question on everybody’s mind, spectators and players from all over the world. Is it really safe?

2020年のオリンピックで硬式野球と軟式野球のゲームは福島市で開催することになっています。
この場所での放射線汚染のレベルはどれくらいなのでしょうか？世界中からやってくる選手や応援団、観客など、そこに行く予定の人たちにとって、この疑問は当然のことです。
この場所に行っても本当に安全なのだろうか？

Continue reading “Olympic games in Fukushima: Is it safe?”

No human rights in terrifyingly contaminated Namie in Fukushima

想像を絶する汚染地帯の浪江町には人権は存在しないのでしょうか？

The evacuation orders of the most populated areas of Namie, Fukushima were lifted on March 31, 2017.
We are publishing the most recent soil surface density map of Namie created by a citizen’s measurement group named the “Fukuichi Area Environmental Radiation Monitoring Project“. Their members are mainly from Tokyo metropolitan region.

Continue reading “No human rights in terrifyingly contaminated Namie in Fukushima”