For several months following the Great East Japan Earthquake and TEPCO's Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant Accident, hereafter the latter was abbreviated as "TFD-NPP Accident", both occurred on and after March 11, 2011, all people in Japan, especially those living in Tohoku and Kanto districts, were very busy responding to the accident. The faces of most Japanese people were looking inside of Japan, and how other countries had been responding to the TFD-NPP Accident was little informed to Japanese people through mass media, and consequently out of their mind. In this article, some of the responses of the neighboring Asian countries and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) which are closely related to our center's activities will briefly be introduced. The present status of Japan will also be mentioned for preparation to a nuclear disaster in abroad.
From the first occurrence of TFD-NPP Accident, the IAEA started to collect information, activated the Incident and Emergency Centre (IEC), established communication with Japanese Government by dispatching Japanese staff to the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry/Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (METI-NISA), translating Japanese to English and vice versa [1]. Asian countries relied on the IAEA information.
The Nuclear Emergency Response Manual [2] of Japan, which was revised and published after the TFD-NPP Accident, introduced an International Affairs Group as one of the functional groups of the Nuclear Emergency Response Headquarters of the National Government. In the Manual, it was stated that "The International Affairs Group supplies information to the countries abroad and coordinates support from abroad, etc." Therefore, if there would occur another nuclear accident in Japan in the future, emergency information would expectedly be sending out to overseas more smoothly.
In considering the fact that the IAEA took part in Canadian nuclear emergency exercise held in June 2014, it may be possible to ask the IAEA to be involved in the nuclear emergency exercise of Japan for improving the effectiveness of the International Affairs Group.
On the contrary, what do we do when a nuclear accident like as the TFD-NPP Accident will occur abroad in the future? The initial response of the the Japanese Government will be activated according to the Initial Response System of the Government against Emergency Situation, which was decided by the Cabinet on November 21, 2003 [3]. The members of Liaison Committee on Countermeasures against Radioactivities in the Cabinet will discuss and decide the countermeasures of Japan. The Committee settled Response Guidelines against Nuclear Incidents Abroad [4] in 2005. In recent years, the Liaison Committee responded to announcement on a nuclear test of the North Korea. If real influences of the test would reach over Japan or Japanese citizens, wider-ranged countermeasures should be necessary.
When an accident would occur at a nuclear facility in abroad, such a situation may be possible that information on the accident can hardly be obtained in Japan. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) bears the primary responsibility for collecting foreign information. However, it might be possible that information on the MOFA route would be limited. The Top Regulators' Meeting (TRM) on Nuclear Safety agreed promoting information sharing both on an emergency situation and a normal situation among China, Japan and Korea. When the information sharing [5] will be fully in progress, it will be the dominant information source. In any case, it will be important to keep as many routes to/from foreign counterparts as possible and to establish the system for sharing the obtained information among related parties.
It was reported that the governmental officers related to nuclear energy in Asian countries had to work hard to respond to various questions asked by media about the TFD-NPP Accident and its impacts on their countries/citizens. For example, in the Philippines, the officers and scientists of Philippine Nuclear Research Institute (PNRI) joined 16 press conferences/media briefings, 48 TV coverages and more than 50 radio interviews [6].
Triggered by the situation or environment, the Asian Nuclear Safety Network (ANSN), which was organized to share information on nuclear safety, etc., established a new topical group, Topical Group on Communication (CTG). Public communication in nuclear/radiological emergency is included in its activities.
The IAEA published a manual on Communication with the Public in a Nuclear or Radiological Emergency in 2012, not only in English but also in Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian and Spanish [7]. This manual has not been published in Japanese. Public communication in an radiological emergency was included in an IAEA manual, Generic procedures for assessment and response during a radiological emergency (IAEA-TECDOC-1162), was translated by NIRS; it was published as NIRS-M-183 [8].
According to the above-mentioned Response Guidelines against Nuclear Incidents Abroad [4], the Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Support Room takes part of public communication of the Central Government and the Liaison Committee on Countermeasures against Radioactivities in the Cabinet, and related Ministries and Agencies are responsible for publicity of their individual issues.
The TFD-NPP Accident arouse anxieties on radiological effects to citizens of neighboring Asian countries, and some of these countries opened a consultation telephone. As an example, the National Radiation Emergency Medical Center (NREMC) of the Korea Institute of Radiological and Medical Sciences (KIRAMS) provided telephone and web consultation [9], and responded to 1,523 inquiries for 24hr telephone consultations.
In Japan, the METI-NISA, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) and the National Institute of Radiological Sciences (NIRS), etc. established telephone consultation.[10] When a nuclear disaster will occur in the future in a foreign country, Japan may activate similar systems to respond to anxieties of Japanese citizen.
When a large nuclear accident occurs in abroad, even if there are no direct environmental impacts on Japan, there may be a case that the Japanese Government will warn the Japanese visitors to return to Japan. For the case of the Great East Japan Earthquake, as the TFD-NPP Accident occurred subsequently, Malaysia and Thailand, e.g., carried out radiation screening of not only the returned citizens, but also crew and airplanes. It was reported that I-131 contamination were found at tires and air filters of airplanes, which was in a good harmony with the reported fact from the former JNES that the measured radiation levels of evacuated cars from Fukushima were relatively higher around at tires, wipers, radiators and air filters than other parts [11], and which will be a useful information for efficiently measuring doses of airplanes at the airport.
For measuring radiation of ships and cargoes at the seaports, Guidelines for radiation measurement of ships at a seaport [12], which was compiled by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism/Maritime Bureau/Inspection and Measurement Division, will be helpful.
When a nuclear accident would occur in a neighboring country, the citizens concern about its impacts on their own lives. For example, Korea intensified their response by having increased frequencies of radiation monitoring since the start of TFD-NPP Accident until the end of 2011. It was reported that radioactive nuclides of I-131, CS-134 and -137 were observed during March 28 and April 26, 2011, but their effects on Korea were judged to be negligible [13].
In Thailand, environmental radiation monitoring was performed at nine points, and the results have been published on the website of Office of Atoms for Peace.
In Japan, the number of monitoring posts in a Prefecture is different depending on the situation of Prefecture, but there are at least four monitoring posts in each Prefecture [14]; furthermore, radiation monitoring will be performed according to Intensification of monitoring activity when a nuclear related matter occurs in abroad [15] that was decided by the Liaison Committee on Countermeasures against Radioactivities.
Radiation contamination of imported foods is one of the main concerns for any country. The limitation of imported food in Asian countries essentially based on the CODEX standard values [16]. After the TFD-NPP Accident, the countries importing food from Japan have efforts to measure radioactivity of imported food from Japan and eased the minds of their citizens. In Thailand, radioactive contaminations had been found for 30 samples out of 662 samples measured until June 12, 2012, but the contamination was within the limit for allowed contamination level decided by the country.
Rumors about contamination of food produced in Fukushima Prefecture were not at all the domestic issues. In Korea, e.g., the citizens have worried about foods from Japan, especially sea foods caught in the Ocean around their country. Photos of Mr. Chung, Prime Minister of the Republic of Korea, eating seafood at Noryangjin Fisheries Wholesale Market in Soeul, were published on a Korean newspaper in September 2013.
Japan is reliant on imported supplies of foods, especially, wheats, beans, sugar and fats. When a nuclear accident occurs in abroad, radioactivity screening of imported foods will be required through a radioactivity check in the exporting country or at the border.
Compared to a domestic nuclear accident, consequences in Japan of a nuclear accident abroad are not thought to be significant. However, countermeasures of Japan against nuclear disasters were focused mainly on domestic disasters, and emergency response plans decided by the central and local governments were only against accidents of domestic nuclear facilities. As was indicated in this article, what should be required in Japan for nuclear disasters occurred in abroad would be considerably different from the responses against domestic disasters, or would be responses in the regions where no preliminary plans were established. This article, which was originally intended for Japanese readers to start thinking about nuclear disasters that may occur abroad in future, might be of any help for non-Japanese readers as well.
[1] IAEA Board Report, IAEA Activities in Response to the Fukushima Accident, GOV/INF/2011/8.
[2] Nuclear Emergency Response Manual (Board Meeting of Nuclear Disaster Prevention Council, partially amended on September 2, 2013) (in Japanese).
[3] Included in NISHIMOTO Tetsuya and NISHINO Satoshi, Reading Book for Practical Countermeasures against Terrorism, Naigai Publishing (2005) (in Japanese).
[4] Response Guidelines against Nuclear Incidents Abroad,Liaison Committee on Countermeasures against Radioactivities (February 23, 2005） (in Japanese).
[6] Department of Science and Technology,Philippine Nuclear Research Institute, 2001 Annual Report, p.34).
[8] (Translated into Japanese by) National Institute of Radiological Sciences: Genetic Procedures for Assessment and Response during Radiological Emergency (NIRS-M-183) (2005) (in Japanese).
[10] Former NISA (presently, NRA) Inquiry Counter for Nuclear Disasters in General (presently, NRA Call Center);
MEXT (JAEA, etc.) Health Consultation Hotlines;
NIRS Telephone Consultations on Radiation Exposures.
[11] Japan Nuclear Energy Safety Organization, External exposure dose of a car mechanics during the maintenance of the cars from the risk cautionary area,JNES-RE-2011-0003 (2011) (In Japanese).
[13] KNS Committee on Fukushima Accident - Final Report (March 2013), p.83 (in Korean).
[14] NRA: Monitoring information of environmental radiation level, measured in Japan in real time (in Japanese).
[16] CODEX general standard for contaminants and toxins in food and feed (CODEX STAN 193-1995).
