To: UN
Secretary General Ban Ki-moon
An Urgent Request on UN Intervention to Stabilize the
Fukushima Unit 4 Spent Nuclear Fuel
Recently, former diplomats and experts both
in Japan and abroad stressed the extremely risky condition of the Fukushima
Daiichi Unit 4 spent nuclear fuel pool and this is being widely reported by
world media. Robert Alvarez, Senior Scholar at the Institute for Policy
Studies (IPS), who is one of the best-known experts on spent nuclear fuel,
stated that in Unit 4 there is spent nuclear fuel which contains Cesium-137
(Cs-137) that is equivalent to 10 times the amount that was released at the
time of the Chernobyl nuclear accident. Thus, if an earthquake or other event
were to cause this pool to drain, this could result in a catastrophic
radiological fire involving nearly 10 times the amount of Cs-137 released by
the Chernobyl accident.
Nearly all of the 10,893 spent fuel assemblies at the Fukushima Daiichi
plant sit in pools vulnerable to future earthquakes, with roughly 85 times more
long-lived radioactivity than released at Chernobyl.
Nuclear experts from the US and Japan such
as Arnie Gundersen, Robert Alvarez, Hiroaki Koide, Masashi Goto, and Mitsuhei
Murata, a former Japanese ambassador to Switzerland, and, Akio Matsumura, a former
UN diplomat, have continually warned against the high risk of the Fukushima
Unit 4 spent nuclear fuel pool.
US Senator Roy Wyden, after his visit to the
Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant on 6 April, 2012, issued a press release
on 16 April, pointing out the catastrophic risk of Fukushima Daiichi Unit 4,
calling for urgent US government intervention. Senator Wyden also sent a letter
to Ichiro Fujisaki, Japan’s Ambassador to the United States, requesting Japan
to accept international assistance to tackle the crisis.
We Japanese civil organizations express our
deepest concern that our government does not inform its citizens about the
extent of risk of the Fukushima Daiichi Unit 4 spent nuclear fuel pool. Given
the fact that collapse of this pool could potentially lead to catastrophic
consequences with worldwide implications, what the Japanese government should
be doing as a responsible member of the international community is to avoid any
further disaster by mobilizing all the wisdom and the means available in order
to stabilize this spent nuclear fuel. It is clearly evident that Fukushima
Daiichi Unit 4 spent nuclear fuel pool is no longer a Japanese issue but an
international issue with potentially serious consequences. Therefore, it is
imperative for the Japanese government and the international community to work
together on this crisis before it becomes too late. We are appealing to the
United Nations to help Japan and the planet in order to prevent the
irreversible consequences of a catastrophe that could affect generations to
come. We herewith make our urgent request to you as follows:
1.
The United Nations should
organize a Nuclear Security Summit to take up the crucial problem of the
Fukushima Daiichi Unit 4 spent nuclear fuel pool.
2.
The United Nations should
establish an independent assessment team on Fukushima Daiichi Unit 4 and
coordinate international assistance in order to stabilize the unit’s spent
nuclear fuel and prevent radiological consequences with potentially
catastrophic consequences.
30 April 2012
Shut Tomari (Japan)
1-2, 6-4 Higashisapporo, Shiroishi-ku,
Sapporo 003-0006 Japan
TEL: +81-90-26951937
FAX:+81-11-826-3796 email: kaori-izumi@ta3.so-net.ne.jp
Green Action (Japan)
Suite
103, 22-75 Tanaka Sekiden-cho, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto 606-8203 Japan
Tel:
+81-75-701-7223 Fax: +81-75-702-1952 email: info@greenaction-japan.org
Endorsed by:
Hiroaki Koide Kyoto University Nuclear Reactor Research Institute
(Japan)
Mitsuhei Murata Former ambassador to Switzerland and to Senegal
Board
member, Global System and Ethics Society (Japan)
Akio Matsumura Former United Nations diplomat
Robert Alvarez Senior
Scholar, Institute for Policy Studies, Washington, D.C. (USA)
Masashi Goto Former Nuclear
Plant Engineer (Japan)
Signing organizations: 72 Japanese
organizations have signed this petition (as of 30 April 2012)
1.
Shut Tomari, Hokkaido
2.
Green Action, Kyoto
3.
Citizen’s Nuclear Information Center, Tokyo
4.
Osaka Group against Mihama・Ooi・Takahama Nuclear Power, Osaka
5.
Aging Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant Group, Tokyo
6.
Stop Hamaoka Nuclear Power Plant!, Shizuoka
7.
Espace des Femmes, Hokkaido
8.
“Let’s learn Pluthermal” Shiribeshi Citizen's Network,
Hokkaido
9.
Hairo Action Fukushima, Fukushima and Evacuation Areas in
Japan
10. STOP MOX! Fukushima,
Fukusima
11. Fukushima Moonlight,
Fukuoka
12. Yawatahama Women's
Group to Protect Children from Nuclear Power Plant, Ehime
13. Ikata People Against
Mox, Ehime
14. We Do Not Want
Plutonium! , Tokyo
15. Genkai Nuclear Power
Pluthermal Trial Support Group, Fukuoka
16. Genkai Nuclear Power
Pluthermal Trial support Group, Fukuona
17. Pluthermal and 100
Years of Saga Prefecture Group, Saga
18. No Nuclear Plants!
Yamaguchi Network, Yamaguchi
19. Food Policy Center・Vision21
20. Genpatsu Yamenkai,
Fukuoka
21. Japan Environmental Law
Lawyers Association （JELF）
22. Nonviolent Direct
Action Network (HANET)
23. Anti-Nuclear-Power and
Nuclear Fuels Reprocessing Protest Advertising Group, Tokyo
24. Kochi Green Citizen’s
Network, Kochi
25. Kaku-no-Gomi Campaign,
Chubu, Nagoya, Aichi
26. Aloha from Hawaii
27. Tohoku Asia Information
Center, Hiroshima
28. No-Nukes Citizen’s
Network, Tokushima
29. No-nukes Net Kushiro,
Hokkaido
30. Fukushima Meeting
for Environment, Human Rights and Peace, Fukushima
31. FoE (Friends of the
Earth Japan), Tokyo
32. Citizen’s Group on
Nuclear Waste, Horonobe, Hokkaido
33. Team From Now On,
Hokkaido
34. No Nukes! Protect
Children from Radioactivity
35. Concerned
Citizens for Children's Human Rights, Ehime
36. Protect the Sea of
Sanriku from Radioactivity, Iwate
37. Iwate Organic Farming Study
Group, Iwate
38. Dandelion House, Tokyo
39. Decommission All
Nuclear Power! Women’s Group for Protection of Kariwa Village, Niigata
40. Sapporo Shoku Machi
Network, Hokkaido
41. Citizens Wind for
Peace, Tokyo
42. Together with the Earth
NPO, Osaka
43. Kawauchi Tsuyukusa Group,
Kagoshima
44. Group against
Construction of Kawaunchi Nuclear Plant, Kagoshima
45. Hassei Group against
Ikata Nuclear Plant, Ehime
46. For Citizen’s Autonomy,
Hokkaido
47. No-Nukes Women Group・Hokkaido, Hokkaido
48. Hokkaido Peace Net,
Hokkaido
49. Future for Fukushima
Children, Hokkaido
50. Good
Bye Kashiwazaki Kariwa Nuclear Power Project, Niigata
51.
Weaving A Better Future Mothers’
Group
52.
Group Aozora MeeMee
53.
Mothers and Fathers’No-Nukes Declaration
2011
54.
Southern Osaka Network for Protection
from Radioactivity, Osaka
55.
Kansai Network on Protection of
Children from Radioactivity, Kansai
56.
Journey To the Future
57.
Morinokoya
58.
Kaburaya
59. Nishiyashiki
60.
Dandelion Fortress, Fukuoka
61. Dohatsuten
Wo Tsuku Kai, Fukuoka
62.
Global Ethics Association
63. Buppouzan
Zenngennji
64.
STOP Nuclear Plants BEFORE Huge Quake
Strikes！
65.
Lee Group to Prevent Earthquake
Disaster and Nuclear Accident
66.
Rokkasho Village・ Home of Flowers and Herbs, Aomori
67.
Anti-TEPCO-Nuclear-Power Consumers
Group, Tokyo
68.
Miyazu Mitsubati Project, Kyoto
69.
Citizen’s Plaza, Minoh , Osaka
70.
Monoh Citizen’s Group on Good Bye
Nuclear Power, Osaka
71.
Campaign Fukuoka against Nuclear and
Uranium Weapons, Fukuoka
72.
Seeking for Japan-US Security Treaty
Termination Notice, Tokyo
Reference
1.
http://bousai.tenki.jp/bousai/earthquake/seismicity_map/?area_type=japan_detail&recent_type=100days
5.
http://blogs.wsj.com/japanrealtime/2012/04/17/fukushima-daiichis-achilles-heel-unit-4s-spent-fuel/
7.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-alvarez/the-fukushima-nuclear-dis_b_1444146.html
11. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bq81boQL_Y
12. http://akiomatsumura.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Letter-to-Prime-Minister-Noda-by-Amb-Murata.pdf
