An appeal from Japan to worldwide civil organizations concerning stabilization of the Fukushima Daiichi Unit 4 spent nuclear fuel

We ask your organization’s support for our appeal to Prime Minister of Japan Yoshihiko Noda and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-­moon.

To civil organizations around the world:
Please support this effort by endorsing our letter to Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-­moon dated 30 April 2012.

We Japanese civil organizations* express our deepest concern that our government does not inform its citizens about the extent of risk of the Fukushima Daiichi Unit 4 spent nuclear fuel pool. Given the fact that collapse of this pool could potentially lead to catastrophic consequences with worldwide implications, what the Japanese government should be doing as a responsible member of the international community is to avoid any further disaster by mobilizing all the wisdom and the means available in order to stabilize this pool.

It is evident that Fukushima Daiichi Unit 4 spent nuclear fuel pool is no longer just a Japanese issue, but an international issue with potentially serious consequences. Therefore, it is imperative for the Japanese government and the international community to work together on this crisis before it becomes too late. We are appealing to the United Nations to help Japan and the planet in order to prevent the irreversible consequences of a catastrophe that could affect generations to come. We are sending an urgent request to UN Secretary General Ban Ki‐moon and Prime Minister of Japan Yoshihiko Noda as follows:

1. The United Nations should organize a Nuclear Safety Summit to take up the crucial problem of the Fukushima Daiichi Unit 4 spent nuclear fuel pool.
2. The United Nations should establish an independent assessment team on Fukushima Daiichi Unit 4 and coordinate international assistance in order to stabilize the unit’s spent nuclear fuel pool and prevent potentially catastrophic radiological consequences.

30 April 2012

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*72 Japanese civil organizations have signed this petition as of 30 April 2012

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Scroll down to sign online.

To submit an endorsement offline, please contact info@greenaction­-japan.org with your name, organization name, city and country.

To the Prime Minister of Japan, Mr. Yoshihiko Noda,

Take responsibility for the major accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. The government must  make change to move away from nuclear power, toward renewable energy sources!

We demand all nuclear power plants are decommissioned and the complete withdrawal from production of nuclear energy!

1. Realise the danger of earthquakes and tsunamis demonstrated by the accident at the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant, shut down all nuclear power plants in operation and begin the decommissioning process.
2. Repeal white paper submissions for all new plant locations and extension plans.
3. Close Rokkasho Reprocessing Plant and Monju; abolish work with plutonium thermal reactors.

TEPCO and the Japanese government must clarify and meet their responsibilities. We demand release  of information to the public, an expansion of the evacuation area, repeal of the increased levels of legal yearly radiation exposure, and compensation for victims!

1. Release information speedily to the public in regard to the accident at Fukushima, consequent contamination and radiation exposure.
2. Expand the evacuation area. Urgently carry out measures required for the evacuation of people: especially from regions where radiation contamination is high, of pregnant women, infants, children and students.
   
3. Revoke the increase of the yearly radiation exposure level to 20 millisieverts (mSv). Lower the legal allowances of radiation in food. Sincerely consider internal radiation exposure: protect the original standard of safe total yearly exposure to the whole body at 1 millisievert of radiation.
   
4. Administer long-term health assistance for local residents exposed to radiation, assessing all possibilities, including external and internal (air, water, food) exposure. Compensate victims of radiation exposure.
   
5. Revoke the increase of the yearly radiation exposure level for workers to 250 millisieverts. Thoroughly administer the radiation exposure of workers who work in high radiation conditions, their safety and their health. Compensate victims of radiation exposure.
   
6. Stop releasing radiation in to the ocean.
   
7. Grant compensation to local residents, workers, farmers, dairy farmers, and fishermen.
   
8. All compensation for this major accident should be paid primarily by TEPCO and electricity business operators.

■ Deadline: 31 December 2011.

■ This petition has been organised by 95 groups from all over Japan.

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Pétition “Adieu, énergie nucléaire” – pour la vie, la nature et l’environnement. (PDF)

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Text of the petition – translated from the Japanese original (PDF)

Date started: June 30, 2011

Submission date: September (extended) late 2011

Status: Closed

Purpose: Protect Fukushima infants, children, and expectant mothers from high radiation exposure. The petition calls for: more extensive evacuation from highly contaminated areas, measurement of residents’ internal radiation exposure, dismissal of Fukushima health advisor Shunichi Yamashita and strict adherence to a 1mSv limit for public radiation exposure.

Who can sign: Open to signatures internationally.

Sponsoring organizations: Fukushima Network for Saving Children from Radiation, 
Citizens Against Fukushima Aging Nuclear Power Plants (Fukuro-no-Kai), FoE Japan (International Environmental NGO), Green Action Japan, Osaka Citizens Against the Mihama, Oi and Takahama Nuclear Power Plants, Greenpeace Japan

Text of the petition — translated from the Japanese original (PDF, 167 Kb):

To:
Naoto KAN, Director-General of Nuclear Emergency Response Headquarters
Yuhei SATO, Governor, Fukushima Prefecture
Yoshiaki TAKAGI, Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology
Ritsuo HOSOKAWA, Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare

Emergency Petition to Protect the Children of Fukushima

By encouraging the temporary and long-term evacuation of children and strictly adhering to the legal annual radiation limit of 1 milliSievert

On May 27, in response to the urgent pleas of Fukushima parents and supporting citizens’ groups, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology announced that it intended to restrict the annual radiation limit at Fukushima schools for the current academic year (April 1, 2011 to March 31, 2012) to 1 millisievert (mSv). This standard, however, does not include radiation exposure outside of school, radiation received between the March 11 nuclear accident and March 31, or internal exposure. Children have already absorbed several times more than 1 mSv, and Fukushima residents are insisting that prefectural and local governments immediately act to reduce the cumulative radiation risk by relocating children temporarily or for longer periods to safer areas and closing schools early for summer recess. We demand that the central government and Fukushima authorities implement the following measures without delay.

1. In areas with particularly high levels of radiation, promote short-term or long-term evacuation and close schools early for summer recess. Give top priority to the relocation of infants, children, and expectant mothers. In many parts of Fukushima, the cumulative radiation exposure far exceeds the limit of 1 mSv per year. Since atmospheric radiation levels show no sign of abating, the inhabitants of heavily contaminated areas will continue to endure high radiation doses, both externally and internally. In order to minimize such exposure, residents should be evacuated promptly to areas where radiation is less severe. Top priority must be given to infants, children, and expectant mothers—all highly susceptible to radiation effects, and schools should be closed early for summer recess. The Education Ministry has stated that early closure is up to the discretion of school principals. Early closure should be implemented for all schools immediately.
2. Monitor regularly the degree of internal exposure for all Fukushima residents, including children, using whole-body counters. Presently, central and local authorities do not calculate internal exposure when computing radiation doses. In fact, however, radiation absorbed internally through food, drink, and inhaled dust particles is thought to be a potent danger to health and is causing growing anxiety among Fukushima residents. The authorities must provide medical examinations using whole-body counters so that any inhabitant who so desires can be tested for internal exposure and have access to the results.
3. Dismiss Shunichi Yamashita, professor at the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Nagasaki University, from his dual positions as advisor to Fukushima prefecture on health-risk management for nuclear radiation and as a member of the prefecture’s Health-Management Investigation Committee. In order to assure the safety of children in Fukushima and adjacent areas, including the Kanto region, special attention must be paid to the long-term health effects of low-level radiation. Professor Shunichi Yamashita of the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Nagasaki University, has repeatedly told people in Fukushima that the risks posed by low-level exposure are minimal and that “doses of up to 100 mSv are safe even for pregnant women.”The Nuclear Safety Commission of Japan (NSCJ) has said that none of its commissioners or technical advisors has stated that 20 mSv is a safe dose. Professor Yamashita’s advice is in contradiction to this statement. The model in which even low doses of radiation have a linear effect relative to dose is widely accepted internationally, including by the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP). Professor Yamashita’s pronouncements ignore the international consensus on radiation effects. In text directed to medical specialists, Professor Yamashita states “the risk of cancer developing at exposures of 10 to 100 mSv cannot be denied,” in complete reversal to the advice he dispenses to Fukushima residents. Entrusting the well-being of Fukushima residents to a health-risk advisor who dismisses the dangers of low-level radiation is extremely troubling and problematic. Only a scientist who acknowledges the long-term dangers posed by low-level exposure is qualified to advise the prefecture on radiation-related health management issues.
4. Strictly adhere to the legal annual radiation limit of 1 millisievert. Compute the radiation dose based on total cumulative radiation, internal and external, absorbed since March 11. Revoke the current provisional annual limit of 20 millisieverts (3.8 microsieverts per hour). Lower the provisional radiation standards for food and drink so as not to exceed the annual limit of 1 millisievert. From a public health standpoint, current laws and regulations, such as the Act on the Prevention of Radiation Disease Due to Radioisotopes, establish 1 mSv per year as the legal radiation limit. This applies to all of Japan, including Fukushima. The national and local governments must adhere strictly to this standard, which is based on the total cumulative radiation dose, internal and external. The Education Ministry should repeal its April 19 directive to Fukushima prefecture, which establishes a provisional guideline of 20 mSv per year for school grounds and facilities (3.8 microSieverts per hour).Furthermore, the government’s provisional radiation standards for food and drink (“Indices Relating to Limits on Food and Drink Ingestion”), even if applied rigorously, could result in a total radiation dose of up to 17 mSv per year.* We demand that the provisional standard be lowered so as not to exceed a cumulative yearly does of 1 mSv.

*Note: Concerning the computation of the current provisional standards, see “Annex 14: Indices Relating to Limits on Food and Drink Ingestion,” in Nuclear Safety Commission, Disaster Prevention Measures for Nuclear Power Facilities (June 1980, partially amended August 2010), and Food Safety Commission, Emergency Measures Concerning Radioactive Substances (March 2011).

Date started: May 13, 2011

Status: Closed

Purpose: Minimize children’s radiation exposure by withdrawing the provisional 20 millisievert (mSv) per year radiation exposure limit for children (issued by the Japanese government on April 19, 2011) and restoring the 1 mSv per year dose limit.

Who can sign: Open to signatures internationally.

Sponsoring organizations: Green Action Japan and Friends of the Earth Japan

Please sign this urgent petition to roll back reckless radiation limits and protect hundreds of thousands of Japanese children from a lifetime of possible increased cancer risk.

Japan’s people desperately need help for common sense to prevail so their children will be safe from radiation exposure. We the undersigned ask you to join us in signing our petition, which will be presented to the Japanese Government.

• After you sign the petition, you will receive a confirmation email from petition@greenaction-japan.org.
• Please confirm your signature by clicking the link in the email.

Thank you for taking the time to show your support.