hankyoreh

Yesterday, the situation at Japan’s Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant, which had been under way for one full month, was upgraded to a ranking of Level 7, the most severe level of nuclear power plant disasters. This is the same level as the Chernobyl disaster in the former Soviet Union.
According to the criteria of the International Atomic Energy Agency, this refers to a “major release of radioactive material with widespread health and environmental effects” affecting more than one country. Several thousand people died from radiation exposure as a result of the Chernobyl accident, and hundreds of thousands more gave birth to children with deformities or suffered various types of cancer.
While our first thought should be to offer our sympathies to the people of Japan, we cannot help feeling concerned for our safety as citizens of a nearby country. In the wake of the Chernobyl sister, rates of diseases such as thyroid cancer increased sharply even in Northern European countries behind the westerlies, such as Finland. In spite of this fact, the South Korean government continues to dismiss citizen concerns about radiation as being incited by leftists and glossing over its own incompetence and complacency.
Still, we are compelled to look forward to a modicum of common sense and to call for more sincere and concrete measures. As it is, cesium has been detected not only in South Korea’s air, soil, and seawater but also in some agricultural products and seafood. The likelihood is strong that this is material from Fukushima.
It was already predicted late last month that the Fukushima situation would arrive at a worst-case scenario. Yet the Japanese government insisted on maintaining the rating of Level 5 until yesterday. Previously, a United Nations expert and French organization warned that the situation rated a Level 6 or higher, but Tokyo kept its ears closed.
Seeing this sudden two-level upgrade, one can only feel compassion for the Japanese citizens who placed trust in their government’s words. Our government is little different in its hope for good fortune, merely reiterating the same things about “the westerlies” and how safe we are. The aim may have been to quiet citizen anxieties in order to follow through on plans to extend the operation of power plants whose lifespan has elapsed and to continue building new ones. Even so, it is wrong to deceive the people.
Yesterday, the Busan Bar Association applied for an injunction suspending operation of the number one reactor at the Gori Nuclear Power Plant. This reactor has entered extended operation, just like Fukushima’s number one reactor that exploded. The safety assessment used as the basis for the extension was poorly conducted, and its results were not even disclosed publicly.
Provisions for natural disasters and resident safety measures in the event of an accident at Gori are also extremely wanting. This reactor is located just 20 kilometers from Busan’s Haeundae Beach. An accident would cause an unimaginable disaster.
It may be that the Busan Bar Association, too, gets criticized as a “force working to undermine the system,” but the Fukushima situation is the final warning. It is time for a swift and sure decision to close the spent plants and to abandon plans to build new ones.

Please direct questions or comments to [englishhani@hani.co.kr]