Rejecting Radioactive Debris

One of the biggest concerns for the Japanese now is where the nuclear debris should be buried. There are twelve prefectures which have biologically dangerous debris contaminated with radioactive materials disseminated from First Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant. While the national government decided that the debris must be finally buried within each prefecture, no local government has agreed with accepting them. For the Japanese, it is not a matter of responsibility of citizens, but of egoism or even power harassment among local residents.

Ministry of Environment designated radioactive debris, with radiation of 8,000 becquerels a kilogram or more, must be buried in final solution facilities built in each prefecture. As a result of government’s failure in persuading people in the area about the necessity of those facilities, there still remains 146,000 metric tons of debris unfinished in eastern Japan.

In Miyagi Prefecture, located in the north of First Fukushima, Ministry of Environment picked one city and two towns as candidates for the facilities. Minister of Environment, Nobuteru Ishihara, received hard criticisms from those mayors, when he tried to explain the plan of national government and was rejected by all of them lat July. Ishihara left the discussion unsolved and get back to Tokyo, the attitude which was denounced by the people.

In Tochigi Prefecture, located in the southwest of Fukushima, the ministry abruptly named Shioya town in early August. As a place of producing pure water, the town strongly opposed the offer. The ministry made a same mistake in 2012, when it named Yaita city in Tochigi. All bureaucrats in the national government need is ability of constructing consensus among the people by getting rid of their elitist sentiment of looking down ordinary people in local communities.

When it needs to persuade people to accept unfavorable facilities, as seen in argument over relocation of U.S. Futenma Marine Air Base, the politics always offered money as compensation. That logic is viable only when pains and gains are balanced. In terms of radioactive materials, no one knows how long the debris harms the community, making deals difficult. The absence of appropriate calculation leads to firm opposition of the people, mixed with accumulated skepticisms against the national government.

Stemming from irresponsibility of political leadership and bureaucracy, there is no sense of moral obligation in Japan. The apathetic ignorance on someone’s pain, being indulged in daily ordinary chores, is fundamentally harming the society. This is the biggest impact of the great earthquake and nuclear disaster.