The Horrors of Fukushima — Mitsuhei Murata, April 20, 2015

Document dated April 20, 2015:

” The Fukushima accident gives the impression to the world that it has been brought under control. It is far from it. The following point of view of Dr. Norio Iriguchi, Professor Emeritus of Kumamoto University, impresses us with the potential horrors of the damaged nuclear plant. I wish to convey to you my impressions it has given me.

1. The point of view of Professor Iriguchi

The containment vessels of units 1, 2 and 3 are broken. The containment vessels were the last strongholds to shut radioactive materials in, but now they are now in contact with the external environment. The volume of each vessel is about 15,000 cubic meters. The temperature inside the vessels varies day and night, winter and summer, and we can presume they are breathing, so to speak, accordingly. Within the vessels, there are molten nuclear fuel rods. If the temperature rises for some reasons, radioactive materials are released into the atmosphere.

Cesium 137 contained in the containment vessels of units 1, 2 and 3 is the equivalent of 14 thousand Hiroshima atomic bombs, 7000 of which are spent nuclear fuel rods whose radioactivity will be reduced by one to one thousand in 300 years. During this period, radioactive materials will continue to be scattered bit by bit as stated above, unless a major natural disaster takes place. However, if molten nuclear fuel rods are exposed through cracks to the atmosphere due to a mega earthquake or the liquidization of the site that causes the collapse or the inclination of a nuclear reactor, Japan’s landmass would become uninhabitable to a large extent.

Cesium 137 contained in unspent nuclear fuel rods amounts to about 7000 Hiroshima atomic bombs, and the possibility of it causing a nuclear fission chain reaction persists for one million years.

In addition to the above-mentioned dangers, there exists a cooling pool for spent nuclear fuel rods on the third floor of each building of the three units. The total of the radioactive materials in the three pools amounts to the equivalent of 16,000 Hiroshima atomic bombs. They are submersed in water in order to confine radioactivity. For 300 years at least, they make us dread mega earthquakes and the associated collapse of the buildings that could take place at any moment.

2. My impressions

The DNA of Japan as a nation has been damaged by the nuclear accident. I have been asserting that nuclear reactors are no less dangerous than nuclear weapons, but it is more correct to say that nuclear reactors are more dangerous than nuclear weapons.

The nuclear accident has obliged many residents of Fukushima to abandon their native places. It has contaminated Japan’s invaluable soil with radioactivity and has brought about a situation that obliges the relevant residents to abandon forever their living and farming land.

The ongoing radioactive contamination of the sea with no prospect for a solution is dishonoring Japan, being criticized as harming the global environment. In spite of all this, attempts are shamefully being made to hide Fukushima.

The Tokyo Olympic Games, the Senkaku Islands problem, the Takeshima issue, all these are just out of the question. ”

*also read Mitsuhei Murata’s letter from May 6, 2015.