Rumor control is as essential as safety management
(From The Japan Times August 10 issue)

原発の風評被害を防げ

A six-member team from the International Atomic Energy Agency's Nuclear Installation Safety Division has finished a four-day inspection of Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power station, which was damaged by a major earthquake July 16. The IAEA team's task was to find out what actually happened at the power station, the world's largest in terms of electrical output. It is hoped that not only the Japanese government and nuclear-power industry but also the governments and power industries of other countries can learn from the IAEA inspectors' findings and implement measures as needed.

The Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear plant was hit by tremors stronger than those assumed possible in the design — casting doubts on design guidelines that had been revised in September 2006 for the first time in 25 years. The design strength was for a magnitude 6.5 earthquake directly beneath the power station. But a magnitude 6.8 quake occurred in the Sea of Japan, only 9 km north of the nuclear power plant. It is possible that the fault that caused the quake runs directly beneath the nuclear plant. The government and industry cannot avoid reconsidering the assumptions used in the design.

TEPCO will have to carefully examine the reactor cores before resuming operation. The IAEA team leader said restarting the plant could take as long as a year.

Some local government officials had expressed the hope that the IAEA team would dispel rumors that the area might have been contaminated with radioactive material. But this task must be borne by TEPCO, and the central and local governments. It is their job to explain what happened fully and, by so doing, regain the trust of the people.

　国際原子力機関(IAEA)の調査団は、中越沖地震で被害を受けた東京電力の柏崎刈羽原発の調査を終えた。日本政府、電力業界ばかりでなく、外国政府や業界も調査結果に学んで、安全対策を取ることが望まれる。

　昨年改定された原発の耐震設計審査基準では、直下型のマグニチュード6.5の地震を想定しているが、今回の地震は、マグニチュード6.8で原発の北、9キロメートルの日本海を震央としていた。地震の原因になった活断層は、原発の真下に延びている可能性があるという。

　自治体関係者は、同調査で放射能漏れについての風評被害がなくなることを望んでいるが、この問題は東京電力と政府、自治体の責任だ。被害を詳細に説明し、住民の信頼を回復することが求められる。