“For the
future and the children. I would like to sincerely face the effects of the
nuclear power station’s accident through measuring radioactive contaminations
in soil”.
Vast areas
of East Japan were contaminated by the radiations due to the TEPCO’s Fukushima
Daiichi nuclear power station’s accident. However, huge scaled investigation on
soil contamination was not initiated by the government. One of the common types
of radiation is cesium 134 and it has half-life of 2 years. It has become
harder to measure them. Under this circumstance, creating a map that visualize
soil contamination is a very important task to be completed. Thus, “Measuring
Becquerel level in Soil Project in East Japan” is proceeding with the power of
people. We interviewed Hidetake Ishimaru
who has been working hard to develop the project.
To have
better understanding of safe/risk, I would like to provide more objective data
for the people and the future generation.
-
You
are the secretary general of “Minnna no Data Site” as well as a leader at one
of the Citizens’ Radiation Measuring Station in Tokyo.
Ishimaru:
Yes. There were many people in Tokyo who were concerned about the radiation
after Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station’s accident. So I started “Kodomo
Mirai Measurement Station (Children and Future Measurement Station) in
Kokubunji, Tokyo in December, 2011. Many of the people who visit our station
are mothers of young children. Most common subject to be brought in for
measurement was rice. There were people who received crops from their relative’s
farm in North-East Japan, but they were worried about their children eating
them. It was huge dilemma because they had empathy towards their relatives but
they were also worried about possible effects on their children’s health by
eating them.
Both famers
and consumers are the victims of the nuclear disaster. However, because of the
concerns for health from consumers, and frustration towards the negative images
casted on crops from the radioactively contaminated areas by the farmers, there
have been division between those people. I think what can connect those people
is the objective data. It is totally up to each individual of how they
interpret the data. Citizen’s Radiation Measuring Station’s role is not to
judge whether the food is safe or risky, but to provide data that can be useful
to make objective judgment in the situation where people have to deal with the
radiation. Around the same time when I started “Kodomo Mirai Measurement Station”,
many measuring stations opened around Japan because there were many people were
also concerned about the situation. Each of the station accumulated a lot of
data. Thus, we created “Minna no Data Site” that allowed people to look up the
data easily on the internet. Currently, 26 stations that passed our conditions
are the members of the website.
We have
already released more than 100,000 data on the website. People can look up by
the type of food, where its harvested, when it was measured, and they can compare
the data accordingly to the criteria. The search results are shown on a list.
The columns are cesium 134, cesium 137, type of the detector machine, and
minimum detection level. While we measured more than 100,000 data, we found
tendency of foods and environments that shows high cesium contamination. We
released a list of tendencies for high cesium contamination on the website.
To
acquire the reality of the accident, this year is the important year.
-
“Minna
no Data Site” has begun “Measuring Becquerel level in Soil Project in East
Japan” where you create soil contamination map.
Ishimaru:
Yes. We started in the autumn of 2014. It involves 17 prefectures in East
Japan. After 3.11, radioactive plume (radioactive clouds) passed on top of vast
areas of East Japan. However, there is only air pollution map to show
contamination levels in those areas. To acquire the reality of the
contamination in the area, measuring soil is the essential.
Half-life
for cesium 137 is 30 years, therefore measuring soil is one of the helpful
means to reduce exposure to radiation in the long term. On the other hand,
half-life for cesium 134 is 2 years, so expect for the highly contaminated
areas, the detection has becoming harder gradually. Despite the accident being
detrimental, there is a chance of not being able to keep the record of the
contamination.
When more
than 1000Bq/Kg of cesium (cesium 134 and 137 combined) is detected, it has to
be safely controlled as “low level radioactive waste”. However, those levels of
contaminations are detected in some soil in Tokyo. Even Tokyo is that
contaminated, but the government are not doing any huge scaled investigation. Moreover,
they are lifting the evacuation order in the areas that are still highly
contaminated in Fukushima, that will lead to increase the numbers of
“self-evacuees” who do not get compensated for their evacuation cost. It is so
obvious that they want to hide the reality of contamination with the attitude
that they are trying to re-start the nuclear stations.
We are going
to investigate on radioactive contamination level of the land that will be
passed on to our future generations. It is important to record the actual data
of radioactive contamination due to the nuclear power station’s accident. To
achieve this, we started to carry out this project.
-
How
is this project carried out?
Ishimaru:
We are looking for people who can collect soil sample from 17 prefectures
starting from Aomori prefecture to Sizuoka prefecture. We are looking to
investigate around 100 regions in each prefecture, and collect five soil
samples from each city/village. We ask them to send the sample to the
designated measuring station.
It is
usually up to the collector where and which soil to collect from the region,
but to acquire as precise situation, we ask them to avoid places such as
drainage that are usually highly contaminated by cesium or places that had been
decontaminated. Also, we have standardized way of collecting the soil. The
samples have to come from 5cm deep and more than 1 liter. Thus we can compare
all the samples scientifically. They are measured in one of the stations from
“Minna no Data Site”, and the results of the sample is told to the person who
collected the soil, and it will be released on the website. After we have
enough data, we will start making them into a map.
We are
looking to measure 1700 samples within this year. For the second year of the
project, we will increase investigation places to enrich the data for soil
contamination map.
-
How
much does the project cost?
Ishimaru:
To achieve our goal of measuring 1700 places within one year will cost us
4,500,000 yen. We will cover this expense by funding from companies and
donations. We are doing crowdfunding now and getting supported by many people
also.
We decided to
fund raise and carry out our project both at the same time before it becomes to
hard to measure cesium 134.
I would
like to sincerely face the reality of the contamination though the data, and
make 3.11 the trigger to bring about change in Japan.
-
After
the accident, you have been working hard to remain the data of radioactive
contamination. What is the driving force for you to do this?
Ishimaru:
There are people who do not have much choice but to live in the contaminated
regions. I would like to feel safe about things that are actually safe by
analyzing the reality carefully and find ways to reduce being exposed to
radiation when its avoidable, rather than only moaning about the contamination.
As one of means to avoid the exposure, “Kodomo Mirai Measurement Station” have
released air pollution map using “hotspot finder” which is high-performance air
pollution detector that precisely measure the dose of radio activities.
What we can
see from measuring the contamination is only a small part of what the people
who lives in the highly contaminated areas have gone through. People live in
Tokyo takes part of the blame in the accident. Thus, it is hard for Tokyo
people to see or imagine what affects are happening in the daily lives of
people in the highly contaminated areas due to the radiation. For children in Fukushima,
the word “radiation” is used in daily life. They say things such as “There is radiation
here, so we cannot play here” or “Because there is radiation, we go on
recreation camp every year”. Can we really say that the accident has ceased
under this situation?
I would
like to sincerely face the situation through providing objective data, and be
able to deal with the situation. I would like to change the social system that
force risks on children. That is my motivation to keep going with this work. I
would like to ask as many people for their support on this “Measuring Becquerel
level in Soil Project in East Japan” for the future and the children.
