Research News
Japan After the Nuclear Disaster
In his capacity as press relations officer at a Helmholtz centre, Heinz-Jörg Haury worked towards raising awareness for the consequences of radiation exposure on health during the years following the nuclear disaster of Chernobyl. Now the freshly retired expert travelled to Tokyo for two weeks on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, to provide advice for members of the German embassy and Germans living in Japan.
Towards the end of April, a phone call from the Bundesministerium für Umwelt (BMU - Federal Ministry for the Environment) brought me back into my former profession. In 1986 and for many subsequent years, I had, amongst other things, occupied myself in that capacity with the consequences of the Chernobyl disaster. The caller asked, "Could you put yourself at the service of the German embassy in Japan as an expert for questions pertaining to the consequences of the accident in Fukushima and the radiation exposure connected with it?" "Your main job would be to advise members of the embassy as well as Germans living in Japan and representatives from German companies with regards to these questions", explained the person from the BMU at the other end of the line. After a short period of deliberation and a discussion at the Foreign Office I decided in favour of the two-week journey to Tokyo. I was supported from Germany by colleagues at the Bundesamt für Strahlenschutz (BfS - Federal Office for Radiation Protection) and at the Gesellschaft für Anlagen- und Reaktorsicherheit (GRS - Society for Facility and Reactor Safety). Since the disaster, both institutions daily issue information on the situation in Japan. Thanks to their help I never felt left to my own in Japan, not for a single moment. So what was my job on site really about? In the context of several information events I answered questions regarding the contamination of comestible goods, the future development in the reactor and the radiation exposure during visits in the province of Fukushima. Owing to the exceptionally good data on radiation levels provided by the Japanese authorities, the measured values from the TÜV Rheinland and the said information from the BfS and the GRS, answering these questions was not difficult. A comparison with Chernobyl revealed: The questions and fears today are similar to those of 25 years ago: What can I eat, where do the comestibles come from? Are they being properly controlled? Can I continue to let our employees work here; can my family continue to live here without worrying? And the questions in Germany were: Are goods from Japan contaminated with radioactivity? Likewise, the reactions to the experts' answers were very similar. When one is to point out that a person's diet hardly contributes to the total lifetime dosage, Germans in Japan today display the same disbelief as could be observed so many years earlier after Chernobyl. In Germany itself, too, doubt and distrust once more rule the day: Whenever I declare that radiation exposure in Tokyo was lower than in Munich, the occasional reaction includes shaking of heads and faces looking at me in disbelief.
My Conclusion:
The flight from Munich to Tokyo and back earned me an additional radiation exposure of about 150 microsievert. The additional exposure suffered by inhabitants of Tokyo since the nuclear disaster amounts to some 15 microsievert. The situation in the immediate proximity of the reactor is completely different: Although the people affected were evacuated very early on, in some smaller villages the thoughts still go back to the issue even today. Amidst all the discussion regarding the reactors and their as yet still unsolved problems, I may be allowed the following remark: The number of people who have died in the earthquake and the ensuing tsunami is said to be 15,247; the number of people missing is 8,593. 102,391 people lost their homes because of the disaster (status 27 May 2011). There is probably little we Germans can do to help in this situation. And yet: Simply the mark of confidence to once again import goods from Japan and to resume travelling to that country would be a help to boost morale.
