hankyoreh

The situation at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant continues to deteriorate. Following the announcement Tuesday that the containment vessel for the No. 2 reactor was damaged, the possibility arose yesterday that the containment vessels for the No. 1 and 3 reactors may also be damaged. Furthermore, workers were withdrawn for a time yesterday following a rapid rise in radioactivity levels near the front gate of the plant. The situation seems to be heading in a bleaker direction with every passing moment.
The uneasiness among the people of Japan and South Korea has also been on the rise. Rare examples of hoarding are being seen in Japan, which is well prepared for disaster, while groundless rumors are spreading in South Korea that radioactive material is moving on toward the East Sea. There is a possibility that this could easily touch off a mass panic.
In order to prevent this kind of situation, it is crucial that all information be disclosed in as transparent a manner as possible. But the response from the Japanese government, the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has been difficult to comprehend. They have invited distrust by continuously changing their story with the situation and offering only inexcusably limited amounts of information.
As an example, before the nuclear power plant explosions took place, TEPCO announced real-time measurements of radiation. Subsequently, however, it has shut down its home page and announced only the radiation quantities measured intermittently over periods of several hours, and even then only to certain branches. According to Japanese NGOs, this is an indication that even these measurements are imprecise, and that they are far lower than the levels measured in the vicinity of the plant. While there is no way of knowing which side is correct, what is clear is that TEPCO is comporting itself in a manner that raises suspicions.
Also drawing comments is the behavior of the IAEA, whose director general is Japanese. The organization has continually been one step behind in its response to the Fukushimi nuclear plant situation. It has done little more than parrot the announcements coming from the Japanese government, without doing any proper monitoring of the Japanese response. Also, while France’s Atomic and Alternative Energies Commission (CEA) upgraded the Fukushima nuclear plant disaster to Level 6 on its scale of international atomic energy disasters, the IAEA has put it at a Level 4. This has led to criticisms that the agency’s safety standards are too lax.
Despite all the talk about the risks of nuclear power plants, many nations continue to maintain them. If this is the case, the IAEA bears the momentous responsibility of managing their safety. Over the years, however, the agency has been criticized as speaking more for the interests of nuclear power companies than for the safe use of nuclear energy. The IAEA needs to take this opportunity to raise its nuclear power plant safety standards through a historic transformation in its character.
　　
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