Decontaminate the Fukushima decontamination project“Josen”(the decontamination of radioactive substances) equals to“Isen”(the relocation of contaminated materials) and to the“Concession”for the related organizations.
By Teiichi AOYAMA, Emeritus Professor,
Tokyo City University
In November 2011, I gave a lecture at a symposium held by Japan Federation of Bar Associations inFukushima City focusing on the possible shift away from dependence on nuclear power in Japan. In that
presentation, I simplified the problem with a government program to decontaminate areas affected by fallout
from the Fukushima Daiichi disaster in this way: josen (the decontamination of radioactivesubstances) means nothing but isen (the relocation of contaminated materials) and the grantingof concessions (government contracts) to organizations related to the nuclear power industry.

Photo was a lecture at a symposium heldby Japan Federation of Bar Associations in Fukushima City
By saying that, I meant that, if current policies continue to be followed, it is now obvious that thetrillions of yens in the decontamination budget will do little but enrich insiders.
Earlier this year, the government began handing out the first contracts from an initial $13 billion
fund earmarked for decontamination of an 8,000-square-mile area affected by fallout from the Fukushimadisaster. The decontamination efforts have been criticized on two grounds: Many observers say the clean-up

will be ineffective, in part because the fallout will continue to be washed down from the mountains
surrounding cities that are the focus of the decontamination effort. During the November symposium, Yusuke
Uchiyama, an associate professor of engineering at Kobe University, insisted that “the decontamination ofradioactive substances from the soil and houses of the affected area will simply relocate the radioactive
substances to other places, and it only results in the slight change of the spotted distribution of thecontaminated areas.” Meanwhile, rain will wash cesium from mountain areas to lower land, recontaminating
cities and increasing the radiation level in river basins. Among other things, this means that radioactive
substances will accumulate in the sediment of lakes and reservoirs in the Kanto Area, an important drinking
water sources for metropolitan Tokyo.
Others have criticized the government for giving the initial contracts in the cleanup to three large
construction companies that built the vast majority of Japan’s nuclear plants, including Fukushima Daiichi. As
the Tokyo Shimbun reported inDecember(http://www.tokyo-np.co.jp/article/tokuho/list/CK2011120802000034.html), the Japan Nuclear
Energy Safety Organization will be the prime contractor of the proposed decontamination project, and three
joint venture groups will subcontract the actual work at the affected sites. Further, the article revealed, thesethree joint ventures are composed of major construction companies that were involved in nuclear power plant
construction all over Japan.

Source: Tokyo News Paper article 8th Dec. 2011 – Earn money by construction of nuclear power plant,and also makes money by broken power plant through Josen project- This is the Concession of Josen
under control of major Gene-cons.
It’s clear that the government’s program to decontaminate areas affected by fallout from theFukushima Daiichi disaster is itself a disaster that will do little to solve the radiation problem.
The figure below shows the distribution of the powers of general Contractors concerning nuclear power plant
construction reception of orders. This map indicates that Kajima Corporation constructed all the buildings andfacilities of Fukushima-Daiichi and Fukushima-Daini Nuclear Power plants.
The pentagon of decontamination politics
For many years, I have noted that Japanese public construction projects such as dams, roads, airports
and nuclear power plants have often been promoted by strong coalitions that consist of five parties: 1)
politicians, 2) administrative bureaucrats, 3) industrial sectors, 4) academic scientists, and 5) the mass media. I
call such a coalition the Pentagon of Politics. I call the process by which such coalitions advocate projects
from which they all benefit “concession hunting.”

Teiichi AOYAMA interview article on leading public opinion by information manipulation (1) Japaneseunique system under Pentagon of Politics, Administrative bureaucrats, Industrial sectors, Academic
scientists and Mass-media.
The Fukushima decontamination project is a demonstration project; it also appears to be a modelcase of concession hunting. The josen project was contracted by Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) as afull, turn-key contract, granted to three major construction companies: Kajima, Taisei and Obayashi. These
three companies were chosen through proposal processes. These three general contractors in turnsubcontracted the work to their affiliated companies.
The figure below shows the allocation map of municipalities where major construction companies

(JVs of Gene-cons) will accept the Josen business in affected areas.
The total projected cost of this demonstration project paid to JAEA was about 19 billion yen (about
240 million dollars), but the subcontracting fee paid to all the general contractors – that is, the amount was just
7.2 billion yen (about 90 million dollars). The difference between the cost of the project and payments to thefirms actually performing work has raised ethical questions about the contract. (The most direct question:
Where did the rest of the money go?) So has the choice of joint venture partners. Many observers consider it
simply unacceptable that companies involved in building the Fukushima Daiicha Nuclear Power Plant –companies that some consider at least partly responsible for the accident there – would also be chosen to leadthe first decontamination project.

Source: Tokyo News Paper 8th Dec. 2011 Earn money by construction of nuclear power plant, and also
makes money by broken power plant through Josen project- This is the Concession of Josen undercontrol of major Gene-cons.
Decontamination that is not decontamination
The construction companies of the Fukushima area are very angry about the government’s decision
to go with major, insider construction firms in the first phase of the decontamination effort. The local firms
had expected substantial decontamination contracts, but will instead get relatively little work, with the generalcontractors likely bringing affiliated enterprises from outside the affected areas to do on-the-grounddecontamination. These local companies point out that human-wave tactics are the most effective way todecontaminate the area, and that the high technology that the large general contractors bring to the projectmeans very little.
On 1 June 2012, the Tokyo Shimbun newspaper article reported the list of general contractors andcontract prices for municipalities’ decontamination projects shown in the table below. The bidding system is
not open bidding, but tender by nominated or designated companies or Ministry of Environment sought ideas
and cost from the public for the decontamination project of the affected areas. As for Minami-Soma City, theprice is going up to 40 billion yen for just 1 City, but it is a professor of the University of Tokyo that has done
terrible emphasis of the necessity for decontamination in Minami-Soma City.
Table: Decontamination Project Contracted to General Contractors
Municipality
Contract Price
Bidding System
General Contractors
Minami-Soma city 40 billion yen
Selective Proposal
Takenaka JV(500 milliondolllars)
Date city
14.2 billion yen
Selective Proposal
Obayashi, Shimizu,(178 million
Nishimatsu, etc.
dollars)
Hirono city
6.4 billion yen
Selective Proposal
Shimizu(80 million dollars)
Fukushima city
2.9 billion yen
Open Competitive
Obayashi JV,(36 million dollars) Bidding
Mitsuisumitomo JV,etc.
Fukushima
0.15 billion yen
Proposal competition
Taiseiprefecture(1.9 million
dollars)
Cabinet Office
8.1 billion yen
Public Tender
Taisei JV, Kajima JV,(101 million
Obayashi JVdollars)
Ministry of the
0.6 billion yen
Public Tender
TaiseiEnvironment(7.5 milliondollars)
Source: the Tokyo Shimbun newspaper 1 June 2012
General contractors are not the only organization which can conduct decontamination project. The
main task for decontamination is only to remove the surface soil by 5cm depth and cover the place with cleansoil. The issue is where the contaminated soil can be transported and to be stored safely.
Even small local companies can deal with the projects and it will increase job opportunities whichshould be the top priority of the affected areas, and will improve their financial status in those areas.
Conclusion
In the past 54 nuclear reactors has been constructed in Japan which has only one 1/25th land area and1/4 of population size compared to the US. So called “safety myth” has been believed that nuclear reactorswould never cause severe accidents in Japan, however unprecedented nuclear accident occurred on 3.11.
As the result of the accident many residents had to evacuated from their home town and lost their job, on thecontrary, the general contractors proposed the decontamination projects to the government and affectedmunicipalities and finally obtained the contracts totally hundreds billion yen (billions dollars) by very
Japanese bidding system.
The people in the affected areas lost their home, job and even hope, but on the contrary, the generalcontractors, which constructed nuclear plants’ buildings, now gained huge amount of benefit bydecontamination projects. How unethical it is? Is there any such unreasonable thing like this? It cannot beconvicted.

In addition to that how hard they work on the decontamination, soon after that radioactive

substance will be carried by rain or wind from field or mountain and eventually residential areas will likely to
be contaminated again.

Analysis result of radiation level in Kawauchi village after finishing the decontamination projectby using so-called SPLINE compensation method. Blue and green are relatively low
radiation level, and yellow , orange and red are relatively high radiation in the air.
Source: Teiichi Aoyama
If the decontamination is effective even to some extent, government should build a scheme that local
small scale companies and local people who lost their job by the accident can earn financial benefit byworking on the projects. The government has to stop using infamous “selective bidding system” and proposal
system in which applicant for the contract can freely select the contractors, because they are not consideredfair.