Not Under Control

People in Japan are getting worried about their national leader being called liar. Skepticisms have grown against a remark of Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, in the speech at International Olympic Committee general meeting, in which Tokyo won 2020 Olympic Game. He told the world that contaminated water in the First Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant was under control, although the water had uncontrollably been flowing into the sea. It is intolerable for the nation to be labeled as having made a lie in order to invite Olympic Game. Media have been actively reporting about Abe’s dishonesty.

It is not Abe who actually is trying to control the water in the site of broken nuclear power plant, but Tokyo Electric Power Company. Kazuhiko Yamashita, a fellow in technological assistance of TEPCO, revealed his recognition on the situation of contaminated water as not being controlled in a meeting of Democratic Party of Japan in Koriyama, Fukushima, on Friday. “Predicted risks are controlled,” told Yamashita “however, something unpredicted had happened, which I apologize.” According to Asahi Shimbun, his comment was made after a lawmaker of DPJ urged to say a truth.

The staffs of Abe are enthusiastic on following Abe’s remarks up. Chief Cabinet Secretary, Yoshihide Suga, has been explaining what Abe had meant. “Effects of radioactive materials are contained within the harbor attached to the site. In terms of preventing effects of contaminated water from going to outer sea, Prime Minister told it was ‘under control,’” said Suga in a press conference on Friday.

There are two points we need to pay attention to in Suga’s explanation. One is that he did not deny the flowing of contaminated water to outer sea. What he said was that “effect” had not been seen. This would be interpreted as "Ok, the contaminated water might have been spread to outer sea. But anyway, what is the matter? No effect of that has been found so far."

Abe told that radioactive water had been “completely blocked” within a 0.3-square-kilometer area in the harbor in IOC meeting. Suga did not mention whether Abe’s elaboration was correct or not. It takes years to determine the “effect” of radioactive materials is detected. Actually, a radioactive material, tritium, was detected outside silt fence, by which Abe told the water was blocked.

The second is that Suga ironically admitted that the rest of situations except radioactive materials in the harbor was not under control. Underground water is even now flowing into the sea by 300 metric tons a day. Contaminated water stocked in the site keeps on leaking from seams of the tanks. Overall situation in the site is not under control and crises of the nuclear accident is ongoing even after two and half years have passed.