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THE PROGRESSIVE REVIEW - March 17, 2011
Americans in Japan Voice Anxiety Over Nuclear Meltdowns
by: Liz Ruskin and Warren P. Strobel
McClatchy Newspapers
Tokyo - With minor levels of excess radiation detected in
Tokyo and at two nearby U.S. military bases, alarm is
building among Americans in Japan who fear the Japanese
government and the U.S. military are underplaying the
threat of contamination from four out-of-control nuclear
reactors.
The commander of U.S. Naval Forces in Japan, Rear Adm.
Richard Wren, raised anxiety levels Tuesday when he
advised residents of Yokosuka Naval Base, near Tokyo,
to "limit outdoor activity" ? less than a day after he
told a town hall meeting that radiation from the reactors
wouldn't affect them.
At Yokota Air Base, the largest U.S. base on Japan's main-
land, testing of the air for contamination has gone from
twice a day to hourly. The U.S. Navy said it was reposition-
ing some ships, including the USS Essex, an amphibious
assault vessel, from the east coast to the west coast of
Japan's Honshu island because of contamination concerns.
U.S. helicopter crews supporting Japan's post-tsunami
search-and-rescue efforts have been found with elevated ?
although not serious ? radiation levels.
The rising anxiety came after four days during which the
38,000 U.S. military personnel living in Japan, along with
43,000 family members, believed they had escaped unscathed
from the 9.0-point quake and the tsunamis that ravaged
Japan's northeast coast on Friday. U.S. military installa-
tions were undamaged and American bases were well outside
the evacuation zone around that Japanese authorities
declared around the Fukushima Dai-Ichi Nuclear Power Plant.
Then, on Tuesday, the Navy reported "very low levels of
radioactivity from our sensitive instrumentation" at two
bases, Yokosuka and Atsugi Naval Air Facility, amid a
flurry of more bad news from Fukushima Daiichi, where
four of six reactors have been compromised.
An explosion very late Monday ? the third at the complex
since the earthquake and tsunami ? in Unit 2 may have
damaged cooling system, as well as the unit's nuclear
core, according to information Japan provided to the
U.N.'s International Atomic Energy Agency. Spent nuclear
fuel caught fire in Unit 4, releasing high levels of
radiation.
Early Wednesday, another fire was reported at Unit 4.
Doubts came to the fore. Base residents wrote about them
on Facebook and raised them in forums. Would they need
iodine pills to ward off radiation if the contamination
level rises? How much time would they have if they had
to evacuate? What would they do with their pets?
Pregnant women, in particular, wondered whether they could
still trust the military to keep them safe and meet their
medical needs.
The Obama administration, much of whose information on the
nuclear crisis comes from the Japanese government, strongly
endorsed Japan's response, including the evacuation of
those living within 12.4 miles of the Fukushima reactors
and a call for those living as far as 18.6 miles away to
remain indoors.
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission said the Japanese
actions "parallel those the United States would suggest
in a similar situation," and White House press secretary
Jay Carney said the U.S. government was not recommending
that its citizens leave Japan.
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But private nuclear experts questioned the Japanese
response, saying the suggestion that people could be
protected by staying in place showed that the Japanese
government did not appreciate the seriousness of the
disaster.
Edwin Lyman, a physicist with the liberal Union of
Concerned Scientists, said the recommendation to stay
indoors, the effectiveness of which is dependent on the
condition of the structure, showed Japan's "too complacent
view." He also labeled Japan's release of information to
the public as "erratic."
Others complained that the U.S. was not being aggressive
enough in warning U.S. citizens here of the risks. While
the State Department on Sunday urged U.S. citizens to
avoid travel to Japan, other countries have gone farther.
France has advised its citizens in the Tokyo area to
leave, while Austria has temporarily relocated its embassy
from the capital to the city of Osaka.
The respected Institute for Science and International
Security said that with an explosion early Tuesday in
Fukushima's Unit 2 reactor, the situation has "worsened
considerably," and should be considered a Level 6 event
on a scale of 1 to 7.
"A level 6 event means that consequences are broader and
countermeasures are needed to deal with the radioactive
contamination," Washington-based ISIS said.
Testing at Yokosuka and Atsugi Naval Air station revealed
0.5 millirems of radiation. The U.S. would evacuate at
levels of 5,000 millirems or above, a military official
said. Another said 12 hours of the additional radiation
exposure at Yokosuka amounted to "less than one month's
exposure to naturally occurring radiation that one would
get from the sun, the earth or rocks."
Tokyo authorities said the radiation detected in the city
was also very low and did not pose a risk to human health.
But anxiety remained high for many Americans. At Yokota
Air Base, one woman told a public meeting Monday that she
worried about having a medical emergency in the middle of
a power blackout. Could medics get her out of her apartment
tower if the elevators weren't working? Would her phone
even work to call an ambulance?
A pregnant woman at Yokota told an online forum that she
felt trapped and didn't like having decisions about her
health in the hands of the military. "Even if I wanted to
leave here on my own, I couldn't because technically I am
not allowed to fly," she said.
Anxiety also was rising among American civilians else-
where. Chris Wells, an American attorney who lives on the
21st floor of a Tokyo apartment tower, said he'd sent his
pregnant wife and their 2-year-old child to Shanghai, and
that he planned to leave on a flight to Honolulu.
He also said he'd prepared a contingency plan.
"I've put a bunch of food in the lower level parking
area," he said. "I have food and water for at least a
week. If I had accurate radiation warnings, I'd go down
there and live."
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