Redistribution of Radioactive Debris a Serious Risk

Families protest the acceptance of debris in Kokura (near Kitakyushu)

In a world that doesn't rely on common sense at times, we have seen a dangerously bad Japanese government policy snowball into an irrational national policy of redistribution of radioactive debris from Fukushima to other prefectures around the country. There have been protests and rallies against it, to no avail. According to our local nuclear expert, Bo Jacobs when I asked what the government could possibly be thinking: 

"I think that they believe that if it is all burned in Fukushima-ken then it will become even more of a no-go zone. They believe they can remediate the land, even though this has never been done before. Also there is some thought that if everyone learned to become accustomed to low levels of contamination the stigma would be removed from Fukushima....

Experts who work for industry tell them that there is no danger in low exposures, even though there is no science to back this up. Since they can't imagine abandoning a large area for decades, they believe the people who say that it "may" be possible to decontaminate.

These experts say that people just need to get over their fear, and this program, burning the debris in every prefecture, will help accomplish this."

It doesn't make any sense and although it is good to see locals protesting the trucks and boats bringing it to their areas, there seems little fighting it now that the decision has been made. According to the blog: cinemaforumfukushima.org the debris has reached and been burned at the Kitakyushu plant despite the protests. They offer a means of making your voice heard by calling or faxing the local government to let them know you disagree with the policy (if you are contacting them from within Japan, drop the 81 and add an 0 before the 93): 

**Please send your voice to the mayor of Kitakyushu, Kenji KITAHASHI , at the Mayor office phone number +81-93-582-2127 , or +81-93-582-2411.  Leave your comment to the Kitakyushu Mayor’s office website, and see English translated instruction. To fax the mayor  at +81-93‐562-0701 via internet free fax services!

A better solution would be to create huge, safe storage in the Fukushima no-go zone (where it is anyway) since no one is living there and will not be for a very long time. Burning it would send it to other areas and transporting it outside of Fukushima to burn it is definitely sending radioactivity where it doesn't need to be, affecting many more innocent people all over Japan.  It is one of the worst policies endangering human health made post-Fukushima. 

There is no evidence to prove that low levels of radiation are okay- so why is the government willing to put everyone at risk?