Can Tokyo stop the Fukushima crisis? 【 日本政府に問題の解決能力はあるのか？福島第一原発の汚染水 】

(Source) http://www.dw.de/can-tokyo-stop-the-fukushima-crisis/a-17066352 
(Japanese translation) 

http://kobajun.chips.jp/

With one measure after another failing to stop the seepage of hundreds of tons of contaminated water from the crippled Fukushima plant, the government of Japan has stepped in. But critics say it is too little, too late.
Author Julian Ryall, Tokyo
The Japanese government announced that it will spend Y47 billion (US$ 473 million) to plug the leaks and cleanse water that has become radioactive after being used to cool four reactors damaged in the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami. At the same time, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe admitted that efforts to date by Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) have not been comprehensive.

[…]
Efforts to date fail
In the most recent problem to emerge, radiation readings at the facility have soared 20 percent to their highest level yet, the Nuclear Regulation Authority announced Monday. Readings close to water tanks that have been leaking tons of contaminated water have spiked to 2,200 millisieverts - a level that would prove fatal
[...]
Failure to act
In light on this development, nuclear experts argue the government should have stepped in much earlier. "This happened 30 months ago and TEPCO told the government that they could handle it - perhaps they were overly optimistic or they did not understand the scope of the problem," Tom Snitch, a professor at the University of Maryland, told DW. "Unfortunately, the government believed them," he added.
The international nuclear community has come up with a number of proposals that could help at Fukushima, Snitch said, but it has so far been largely excluded from implementing the plans.
"There are solutions to the issues at Fukushima, but they are technical," he said. "The problem is that Tokyo cannot make the political decisions to put these solutions in place."
According to the scientist, the Japanese say that US firms do not have the correct technology to decommission Fukushima, claiming that they have worked on US plants that were used to make weapons.
But Snitch disagrees with this argument saying this is a false pretense that Japan is using to keep US and British firms out of the cleanup: "Nuclear physics is the same regardless of the end use."
'Unrealistic hopes'
The nuclear expert believes that Tokyo has no choice but to take some tough decisions and inform the Japanese public and the rest of the world of what it has to do. Snitch says the government needs to tell the fisherman that contaminated water will be dispersed into the ocean. They also need to tell the residents of some of the towns within the 20 km zone that they are never going back to their homes, he added. "These people have been given unrealistic hopes for 30 months that things can go back to what they were on March 10, 2011. This is simply not true and will not happen."
Furthermore, experts emphasize that decisions have to be made on where to store the 1,533 spent fuel rods and warehouses full of thousands of protection suits, gloves, respirators and other equipment that has become contaminated with radiation, he said.
Snitch is of the opinion that if the Japanese had taken effective steps on from the start and dealt with the water issue, they would not have used Areva filters which did not work, would not have purchased the ALPS [Multi-nuclide Removal Equipment], which broke, and they would not have hundreds of leaky metal tanks, bolted together on uneven ground and leaking.
"In life, when facing a crisis, people must first admit that they have a problem," he added. 

「世界中の原子力関係機関や企業から様々提案がありましたが、そのほとんどが実施計画から除外されてしまったのです。」
スニッチ教授がこう続けました。 「福島の問題を解決するための具体策は存在します。ただし、いずれもが技術的に高度なものであり、いずれも高度な技術を持つ世界各国の専門機関、あるいは企業が直接行うべきものです。」
「問題は、日本政府がこれらの解決手段を実行する、そのための政治決断ができないということなのです。」

▽非現実的願望を抱かせることは、かえって残酷である

スニッチ教授は、日本政府は苦しくはあっても正しい決断をしなければならないと語ります。
日本の国民、そして世界中の関係者に対し、ありのままを伝えなければなりません。
日本政府は漁業関係者に対し、汚染水が福島第一原発の内港に留まるなどと言う事はあり得ない、外洋に向け拡散していくことは避けられないと伝えるべきである。

さらには20キロ圏内の立ち入り禁止区域の住民の帰還は、半永久的に実現できないと正直につげるべきである。

「福島第一原発の周辺で生活していた人々は、事故から２年半も過ぎれば、2011年３月10日以前と変わらない生活ができるようになる、そうした誤った見解を信じ込まされてきました。
それはあまりに非現実的な戯言であり、現実になるはずの無いものです。」

「人生において危機に直面した時、人はまず最初に問題を抱えてしまったことを素直に認め、謙虚になる必要があります。」
スニッチ教授が最後にこう語りました。

「そうして初めて、本当に役に立つ援助の手が差し伸べられることになるのです。」

"Only then can they ask for help."