#Fukushima I Nuke Plant: MP Alleges It May Not Have Been a Hydrogen Explosion on March 12

(Correction: Tokuda is from Kagoshima, not from Fukushima.)

If what Takeshi Tokuda, Member of the Lower House (House of Representatives) in the Japanese Diet, says is true, the explosion that blew up the Reactor 1 building roof and side walls may not have been an hydrogen explosion as the government has insisted, but something decidedly more serious.

From his April 17 blog entry (original in Japanese):

[Tokuda is writing about his day on April 15, including a visit to Minami-Soma City, which has been designated as "planned evacuation zone". He visited the Minami Soma City General Hospital and spoke with Dr. Oikawa, and the following is what he heard from Dr. Oikawa.]

そして及川副院長の話から驚愕の事実を知る。

Then I heard a startling story from Dr. Oikawa.

３月１２日の一度目の水素爆発の際、２㎞離れた双葉町まで破片や小石が飛んできたという。

On the first hydrogen explosion on March 12 [Reactor 1], broken pieces [of...??] and small stones [from the explosion] landed in Futaba-machi, 2 kilometers away from the Plant.

そしてその爆発直後、原発の周辺から病院へ逃れてきた人々の放射線量を調べたところ、十数人の人が１０万cpmを超えガイガーカウンターが振り切れていたという。

When the hospital checked the radiation level on the people who escaped from around the nuke plant after the explosion, there were more than 10 people whose radiation level exceeded 100,000 cpm [counts per minute], beyond what could be measured by the geiger counter the hospital had.

[100,000 cpm is the new level that the Japanese government set that requires decontamination. Before the Fukushima accident, the level was 6,000 cpm, and on March 12 it was still 6,000 cpm.]

それは衣服や乗用車に付着した放射性物質により二次被曝するほどの高い数値だ。

It is the level that threatens the secondary radiation contamination.

しかし、そこまで深刻な状況だったとは政府から発表されていない。

However, it has never been disclosed by the government that it was such a serious situation.

病院に立ち寄ることなく、被ばくしたことも知らずに、家に帰って子供を抱きしめた人もいたかもしれない。

Some people, without stopping by at the hospital and without knowing that they had been exposed to high radiation, may have gone home and hugged their children.

そこで爆発から２時間後の枝野官房長官の会見を読み直してみた。

So I re-read the transcript of the press conference given by Chief Cabinet Secretary Edano two hours after the explosion.

水素爆発は起こったが、格納容器が破損していないことを確認した。

He said that there was a hydrogen explosion, but it was confirmed that the Containment Vessel was not damaged.

従って原子炉格納容器内の爆発ではないことから、放射線物質が大量に漏れ出すものではない、と述べている。

It was not the explosion within the Containment Vessel, therefore no large amount of radioactive materials would be released, Edano said.

１３日での会見では、バスにより避難した双葉町の住民の皆さんのうち、９名が測定の結果、被ばくの可能性があることを発表した。

In his March 13 press conference, he announced that 9 people who had evacuated from Futaba-machi by bus may have been exposed to radiation.

この９名のうち４名の方が少ない方で１８００cpm、多い方で４００００cpmの数値。

4 of them had the low dose of 1,800 cpm, the highest dose was 40,000 cpm, he said.

その上で専門家の判断によると、こうしたものが表面に付いているという状況に留まるならば、健康に大きな被害はない、とも述べている。

Edano also said that according to the experts there would be no serious negative effect on health as long as such matters [radioactive materials] stay on the surface.

南相馬市立総合病院で確認されているだけでも十数人が高い数値を示していた深刻な状況が、政府には情報として上がっていなかったのだろうか。

Did the government not know about this serious situation at Minami-Soma City General Hospital where more than 10 people were found to have been exposed to high radiation levels?

もし情報が上がっていなかったとしたら、官邸の情報収集能力と危機管理の観点から問題であり、情報が上がっていたのに意図的に正確な情報を伝えなかったのであれば、それは政府による情報操作であり、犯罪に近い行為と言える。

If the government didn't know, that would cast doubts on the capability of the Prime Minister's Office to gather information, and would be problematic from the point of crisis management; if they knew but decided to suppress the information, that would be the manipulation of information by the government, almost a criminal act.

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