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| Tsukumi, Oita, Japan |
On May 27, 2012, Tsukumi City had a public conference to accept radioactive debris from northeastern Japan. This video is only in Japanese.
Tsukumi is in Oita Prefecture in Kyushu Island, western Japan. Japanese government has plan to transport radioactive debris from northeastern Japan to Tsukumi and burn the debris. Tsukumi is 1300 km, 800 miles away from northeastern Japan. Kitakyushu accepted the debris in May and burned it. In Kitakyushu, radioactive level jumped up to 10 times after burning the debris. Kitakyushu City also received 4 billion yen which is approximately 50 million U. S. dollars from Japanese government.
For larger map, click Radioactive Debris
After burning radioactive debris in Kitakyushu, some people suffered sore throats and sore eyes in Oita which is 120 km, 75 miles away from Kitakyushu.
Oita Prefecture decided to accept the debris and burn it at a facility of Taiheiyo Cement in Tsukumi. A factory of Taiheiyo Cement in Saitama accepted ashes of radioactive debris, produced cement with the ashes and has sold the cement with radioactive materials.
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| 450 citizens attended the conference. |
On May 27, Tsukumi City had a public conference. First, the city employee explained to accept the debris from northeastern Japan. Radioactive level of the debris would be maintained 100 Bq or below, so it wouldn't cause health problems. Next, Prof. Kai of Oita University of Nursing and Health Science explained there was radioactive in the nature, so accepting radioactive debris would be safe.
A man asked "If the debris is so safe, why do you transport it to here? If it's safe, they can burn it in northeastern Japan. I heard there are plans to make hills with debris (to avoid tsunami) and plant trees on it." The city employee just repeated importance of accepting the debris.
A mother directed documents which the city gave and said, "The data is radioactive levels in October 2011. The data is about the past. It's not about the present. It means nothing for us. It doesn't show data of transporting the debris. Another sheet of paper explains that if we take radioactive materials into our body, we can discharge it in months. It says 5-year-old children can discharge it in 30 days. You try to deceive us! We can't be deceived with such documents like that! Everybody knows radioactive materials are bad especially for children. Japanese government tells the prefecture to accept the debris, and the prefecture tells the city to do. If the city tells us to accept, we won't. We never trust the government."
Another man told the data of Shimada City in Shizuoka Prefecture. "Shimada accepted the debris from northeastern Japan. A company named Hasshin measured radioactive levels in Shimada. Before accepting the debris, cesium level was 10-13 Bq, but it jumped up to 730 Bq at field of an elementary school. In another area, it jumped up to 197 times." The professor said, "It jumped up just a little, didn't it?" The man yelled with an anger, "No, it wasn't a little. 200 times!" The city employees asked, "How did you get the data?" The man replied, "If you don't have the data, just ask Shizuoka Press Club. How can you accept the debris without such an important news."
A woman asked if they would have health problems, who would compensate it. The city replied that nobody would have health problems, so nobody would be responsible for compensating. Tsukumi citizens blamed the answer.
A man blamed that Tsukumi Mayor didn't attend the conference and Tsukumi City Assembly had not opened the minutes.
Another woman said "We called 13 companies decontaminating radioactive materials. Medias reported that they can decontaminate 100%. But all of the 13 companies answered that they cannot decontaminate such a lot. They answered they can only decontaminate 60% or so. If the city would be contaminate with radioactive materials, how can you clean it up?" The city employees just repeated it would be safe.
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| None Tsukumi citizens were not allowed to attend Q&A. |
A man asked "If the radioactive level would be maintained 100 Bq or below and accept more and more debris, would radioactive materials accumulate?" Prof. Kai just continued "We just need to observe the situation." Citizens showed their angers and said "You have no safety plan for us."
People out of Tsukumi were restricted to seat in the second floor and weren't allowed to ask questions. A Tsukumi citizen said "If you burn the debris, it could affect outside of the city. Why don't you allow people from other cities to ask questions. It's not fair."
All questioners opposed the city's plan to accept radioactive debris. Only employees of Taiheiyo Cement were supporters, a man said after the conference.
The conference was extended for about 30 minutes. It became obvious that citizens do not agree to accept radioactive debris.
Oita Prefecture and Tsukumi City announced that they could get agreement of citizens at the conference and accept the debris though citizens never agreed.
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| Declaration of none nuclear and peace, Tsukumi City |
