Doro-Chiba Quake Report

July 11, 2016/ issue 67

International Labor Solidarity Committee of Doro-Chiba (National Railway Motive Power Union of Chiba)

Fight back against forced exposure toradiation!
Refuse work while exposed to radiation!
Stop “reuse” of contaminated soil!
June 2016
International Labor Solidarity Committee of Doro-Chiba
In September 2013, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe shamelessly lied to win the 2020 Olympics for Tokyo,
claiming that the contaminated water leaking from Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Plant was “under control”
and there had been “no health problems,” nor would there be.
Now all the lies and cover-ups have been exposed. Over 1,000 contaminated water storage tanks alreadyoccupy almost all of the spaceat the nuclear plant site. The$300 million “ice wall” project,
once hyped as the most reliable
solution for substantial reduction of contaminated water by
preventing groundwater infiltration into the wrecked reactor
buildings, has become a fiasco.
Far from being a “wall,” it isnow

deridedasa“lacecurtain.” As many as 173 childthyroid cancer or suspectedcancer cases have appeared inthelastfiveyears.

TheWastewater storage tanks at Fukushima Daiichi NPP

incidence rate in Fukushima ranges to around 50 times that of the general population.
The Abe government is forcing evacuees to move back to villages, towns and cities in Fukushima Prefecturethat remain heavily contaminated. It is doing this by terminating all compensation payments available forevacuees by 2018. This amounts to economic coercion. The Japanese government has achieved a change toradiation exposure standards from 1mSv/y to 20mSv/y. According to the Japanese government’s
post-disaster decontamination target, 20mSv/y is now acceptable. This is 20 times the maximum allowed
dose for the general public! Moreover, on July 12th, the Abe government will lift an evacuation order for thebulk of Minamisoma City (designated a “zone in preparation for the lifting of the evacuation order”), which
has been in place since the 2011 accident at Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear PowerPlant. In accordance with Abe’s plan, on the same day JR East Japan will resume rail services between
1Haranomachi

Sta-tion and Odaka Station, which is about
16kmfromtheFukushima DaiichiNuclearPowerPlant, on the JRJoban Line.
Japan’s Ministry oftheEnvironment

has raised the levelof recyclable contaminated waste to
8,000Bq/kg,

80

times more than thecurrent norm.

Italso plans to recycle
the waste for use inpublic works, especiallyconstruction

forthe2020

Olympics in Tokyo.
Even more incredibly, Tokyo Metropolitan Governmentis planning to build
across-country

course, rowing andcanoe-kayak waterway and mountain bike course on a landfill called Central Breakwater Disposal Site, which is the mostdangerous hot spot. The site has been a constant dumping ground for highly radioactive waste (8,000Bq/kg
to 100,000Bq/kg), such as incinerator bottom ash, incinerated sewage sludge ash and clean water sediment.
The previous governor of Tokyo, Naoki Inose, cooperated with Prime Minister Abe and helped bring the2020 Olympics to Tokyo, but was then forced to resign over a loan scandal. Inose’s successor, Yoichi
Masuzoe, easily won the position with the full support of Abe, but has also now resigned due to yet anotherfinancial scandal. The Olympics are intrinsically linked to the interests of only a handful of large capitals andtheir governments. In order to secure their own survival, they put money first, rather than valuing the lives ofordinary people.

2On June 24th, the Abeadministration

andShikoku Electric PowerCo. trampled on theprotesting

municipal

workers

andlocalresidents, and started
loading MOX fuel intothe No. 3 reactor at
Ikata Nuclear Power
Plant in Ehime Prefecture.

SinceApril

14th and the Kumamoto Earthquake, tremors have continued toaffect wide parts of Kyushu. This indicates that the Median Tectonic Line, the largest belt of faults runningfrom central Honshu to Kyushu, has now finally started to move. In spite of a disaster as large as theKumamoto Earthquake, the Abe administration and Kyushu Electric Power Co. still refuse to shut down
Sendai Nuclear Power Plant, the only nuclear power plant operating in the country. And furthermore, they
insist on reopening Ikata Nuclear Power Plant in July, which is located on the Median Tectonic Line.
“We care only about today, regardless of what may happen tomorrow.” This is the reality of Japaneseimperialism and the Abe administration, which is desperate to survive in the worldwide economicdepression.
Crush the Abe administration that is rushing to reopen Japan’s nuclear power plants!
Follow the example of Doro-Mito and refuse to work in conditions exposed to radiation!
Stop radiation-contaminated soil from being used for constructing Olympics-related facilities!

News & Documents

Nuclear refugees tell of distrust, pressure to return to Fukushima
by Yuri Kageyama
APThe Japan Times, March 11, 2016
They feel like refugees, although they
live in one of the world’s richest andmost peaceful nations.
Five years ago, these people fled theirhomes, grabbing what they could, as a
nearby nuclear plant melted down
after being hit by tsunami, spewing
radiation. All told, the disaster inFukushima displaced 150,000 by thegovernment’s count.

About 100,000 are still scatteredaround the nation, some inbarrack-like temporary housing units
and others in government-allocatedapartment buildings hundreds ofkilometers away.
Although authorities have started toopen up areas near the damaged
reactors that were previously off limits,
only a fraction of residents have3

returned. For example, in the town ofNaraha, where evacuation orders werelifted in September, 459 people, or 6
percent of the pre-disaster population,
have gone back.
Read moreConstitution does not specifically ban Japan’s use of nuclear weapons:
Cabinet official
The Japan Times
March 19, 2016
Japan’s Constitution does not necessarily
ban the use of nuclear weapons, Yusuke
Yokobatake, director-general of theCabinet Legislation Bureau, said Friday.

“We don’t think that the use of all kinds ofnuclear weapons is prohibited under theConstitution,”theheadoftheconstitutional watchdog told the House ofCouncilors’
BudgetCommittee
inresponse to a question from Shinkun Haku
of the opposition Democratic Party ofJapan.
Read more

Abe Cabinet says Article 9 does not ban possessing, using N-weapons
THE ASAHI SHIMBUN
April 2, 2016
The Abe Cabinet has decided thatwar-renouncing Article 9 of theConstitution does not necessarily ban

Read more.

Japan from possessing and using
nuclear weapons.

Japanese Protest Ahead of Obama’s Visit to Hiroshima
By Morichika Nakamoto
Telesur
March 6, 2013
Hundreds of Japanese protested on
Thursday ahead of the visit of U.S.

president Barack Obama to Hiroshima,
after his remarks that the trip would

not include an official apology fromhis government.
Read more

See also:
Doro-Chiba’s Statement opposing Obama’s visit to Hironima

You can find the archive of Doro-Chiba Quake Report here: http://dorochibanewsletter.wordpress.com/

71th Anniversary of Atomic Bombing of Hiroshima

August 6

Stop nuclear war in Korean Peninsula with the power of international workers’
solidarity!
Unite angry voices in Hiroshima, Okinawa and Fukushima! Abolish all nuclear
weapons, all military bases and all nuclear power plants!
Overthrow Abe government that promotes constitutional revision, war and nuclear
armament!

Morning rally:
Time: 8:30 a.m.
Place: Atomic Dome
Main rally:
Time: 12:30 p.m.
Place: Small Arena of Prefectural Gymnasium
March:
Time: 3:00 p.m.
Contact: hiro-100@cronos.ocn.ne.jp
http://86hiroshima.blogspot.jp/4qq