Fukushima parents and NGOs appeal to UN to save the children from radioactive fallout

Fukushima children were ordered back to school in April desipte the severe radioactive contamination of their schoolyards from three reactor meltdowns' fallout.On August 17th, in a statement entitled "Violation of the Human Rights of the Children of Fukushima," a coalition of Japanese Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), including Fukushima Prefecture parents, appealed to the United Nations' Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) to save the children of Fukushima from the perils of radioactive contamination resulting from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear catastrophe that began on March 11th. The appeal is necessary because of the inaction, and worse, of the Japanese federal government and Fukushima prefectural government. The appeal to the UN was signed by the Fukushima Network for Saving Children from Radiation; Citizens Against Fukushima Aging Nuclear Power Plants (Fukuro-no-Kai); FoE Japan (International Environmental NGO); Green Action; Osaka Citizens Against the Mihama, Oi and Takahama Nuclear Power Plants (Mihama-no-Kai); and Greenpeace Japan.

This appeal to the UN comes on the heels of two petitions, submitted to the Japanese government on May 2nd and June 16th, which accumulated over 80,000 signatures, including 1,383 organizational signatories, from across Japan and 61 other countries worldwide. The petitions urged a speedy expanded evacuation and minimization of children's radioactive exposures by withdrawing the Japanese government's "provisional" 20 millisievert (2 Rem) per year radiation exposure limit for Fukushima children, and restoring the 1 millisievert (100 millirem) per year limit. However, the petitions have fallen on deaf ears at the Japanese federal and Fukushima prefectural governments. A third, related petition was launched on June 30th, and is still open to international signers.

The appeal to the UN concludes: "The children of Fukushima have the same right as all other children in Japan to live a life free from unnecessary, preventable radiation exposure. We urgently request that the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights/OHCHR come to Japan to investigate this matter."

International responses to the Japanese nuclear catastrophe

In his May 12, 2011 report "Fukushima Fallout: Regulatory Loopholes at U.S. Nuclear Plants," U.S. Representative Ed Markey (D-MA) stated:

"Following the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Japan, many other countries have announced new safety measures with regards to nuclear reactors. China, Venezuela, Switzerland, Italy, Japan, and Taiwan have suspended new reactor development. Germany and Japan announced it would shut down older reactors pending safety review."

The table also shows that the Phillipines and the U.K. have decided to reduce the role of nuclear power in their energy future. And in fact Germany, the fourth biggest national economy on the planet, has decided to completely phase out nuclear power by 2022. (see Table 1 on page 24).

Evidence mounts that earthquake damage doomed reactor to melt down even before tsunami hit

The Independent of the U.K., in an article entitled "The Explosive Truth Behind Fukushima's Meltdown," has reported mounting evidence indicating that earthquake damage in Daiichi Unit 1 was so severe that it was doomed to melt down even before the massive inundation from the tsunami knocked out emergency diesel generators, cutting off electricity to run vital cooling water pumps. The article reports: 

"This means that assurances from the industry in Japan and overseas that the reactors were robust is now blown apart," said Shaun Burnie, an independent nuclear waste consultant who works with Greenpeace. "It raises fundamental questions on all reactors in high seismic risk areas."

As Mr Burnie points out, Tepco also admitted massive fuel melt 16 hours after loss of coolant, and seven or eight hours before the explosion in Unit One. "Since they must have known all this, their decision to flood with massive water volumes would guarantee massive additional contamination – including leaks to the ocean."

WSJ: "Murky Science Clouded Japan Nuclear Response"

The Wall Street Journal, in an article entitled "Murky Science Clouded Japan Nuclear Response," has reported that the villagers of Iitate, just 17 miles downwind of the radiation-spewing Fukushima Daiichi triple meltdown, were left in the dark, without warning from the Japanese government, regarding dangerously high levels of radioactive contamination that had blown onto their home and fallen out with snow beginning just four days after the accident began, on March 15th. The evacuation order was not given until April 22nd, nearly six weeks into the nuclear catastrophe.

Japan Held Nuclear Data, Leaving Evacuees in Peril

"In interviews and public statements, some current and former government officials have admitted that Japanese authorities engaged in a pattern of withholding damaging information and denying facts of the nuclear disaster — in order, some of them said, to limit the size of costly and disruptive evacuations in land-scarce Japan and to avoid public questioning of the politically powerful nuclear industry. As the nuclear plant continues to release radiation, some of which has slipped into the nation’s food supply, public anger is growing at what many here see as an official campaign to play down the scope of the accident and the potential health risks.

'From the 12th to the 15th we were in a location with one of the highest levels of radiation,” said Tamotsu Baba, the mayor of Namie, which is about five miles from the nuclear plant. He and thousands from Namie now live in temporary housing in another town, Nihonmatsu. “We are extremely worried about internal exposure to radiation.' New York Times

From Associated Press :

"Japan's system to forecast radiation threats was working from the moment its nuclear crisis began. As officials planned a venting operation certain to release radioactivity into the air, the system predicted Karino Elementary School would be directly in the path of the plume emerging from the tsunami-hit Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear plant.

But the prediction helped no one. Nobody acted on it."