福島原発の事故 (Accident at Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant)

　昨3月12日午後、東日本大震災の影響で福島第一原子力発電所1号機で爆発が起こり、建屋の上半部が破壊された。原子炉内の燃料についての原子力安全・保安院の発表は、「溶融が進んでいるおそれが強い」というものである。13日付け朝日紙の記事では、そのように記述されている。

　ところが、「福島原発 炉心溶融」という大きな見出しをつけているのは大げさではないか（上掲の写真、右上）。「溶融が進んでいる」にしても、いろいろな程度があり、炉心のごく一部が溶融している場合から、全体に溶融がおよんでいる場合もある。単に「炉心溶融」とあれば、炉心全体が完全に融けてしまったかと思わされる。

　といっても、私はこの事故を軽く見ているのではない。地震の多いわが国で、電力の多くの割合を原子力発電に背負わせて来た政策は、今回の事故を教訓に再検討されるべきだと思う。この事故については、 [1]〜[4] に見られるような分析的な報告が、海外でも多く発信されている。

　追記：「正確な情報を迅速に伝えてほしい」とのコメントを貰った。災害・事故時には、まさに、正確な情報を迅速に伝えることが大切です。とくに、原発の事故では、情報の隠蔽があってはなりません。隠蔽は不安をあおり、対策の不備を招くだけです。

On Saturday March 12, an explosion occurred, under the influence of the great earthquake in eastern Japan, at the Unit 1 reactor of Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, operated by Tokyo Electric Power Company; and the upper half of the reactor building was destroyed. As for fuel in the reactor, Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency announced, "It is strongly possible that the melting of them has proceeded," and the article of Asahi Shimbun dated Sunday March 13 described like above.

However, the headline of that article, printed in a big font, say, "Reactor Core Melts, Fukushima Nuclear Plant" (upper right of the above photo). Is not this an exaggeration? When they say, "The melting has proceeded," there can be different extents from the melting of a small portion of the core to the entire melting. Reading simply "Core Melts," we are led to believe that the entire core has fully melted.

My saying the above does not mean that I think the accident is minor. Rather I think that learning from the lessons of this accident, the national policy of making nuclear reactors provide a high percentage of the electric power should be reconsidered in our country, where earthquakes occur frequently. Critical reports on this accident, such as [1] – [4], are found in the overseas media.

Note added later: I got a comment, "We need accurate information quickly." On the occasion of accidents, it is certainly vital to convey accurate information quickly. As for nuclear accident in particular, hiding of information should not be made. Hiding leads to excessive anxiety and defects in protection.

1. Hiroko Tabuchi and Matthew L. Wald, "Japan floods nuclear reactor crippled by quake in effort to avert meltdown." New York Times (March 12, 2011).

2. Rita J. King, "Failure of imagination can be deadly: Fukushima is a warning." Scientific American (Mar 12, 2011).

3. Steve Mirsky, "Nuclear experts explain worst-case scenario at Fukushima power plant." Scientific American (March 12, 2011).

4. Ben Sandilands, "Tracking the fallout and falsehoods at Fukushima." crikey.com, Blog (March 13, 2011).