Radioactive Debris: Ministry of the Environment to Municipalities - Don't Tell Anyone, Don't Say No

As reported here a number of times, Japan's Ministry of the Environment under Goshi Hosono (who is also in charge of the Fuku I nuclear accident) is more than ever eager to spread radiation throughout Japan by forcing the municipalities (except one - Tokyo - who will be happily burning the debris from Iwate after a bogus test of mixing radioactive debris with regular garbage to reduce the density of radioactive materials in the ashes) to accept disaster debris from Tohoku.

Someone in Japan uploaded the notice from the Ministry to the people in charge of waste disposal in the municipalities, dated October 7, 2011. It is a questionnaire that the Ministry wants the municipalities to fill and send back to the Ministry via email, asking about the current status in the municipalities on their effort to accept disaster debris. The Ministry wants to know how much debris they can take in, what types of debris, what type of disposal available. The similar survey was done several months ago, but since then the local oppositions have grown. So the Ministry wants to persuade the wavering municipalities.

The notice is not what the Ministry would put up on their website as "press release" because it is not a press release. Rather, it is a document only seen by local officials.

The notice is an outrage for anyone who oppose moving the radioactive debris to their cities and towns, particularly those in the western Japan where the radioactive fallout from Fukushima I Nuke Plant has been close to zero. (Internal radiation exposure is another matter, which is happening in the western Japan also.)

Why?

First:

なお、本調査の結果について、個別の地方公共団体名は公表しないこととしています。

When we announce the result of the survey, the names of the individual municipalities will not be disclosed.

Unlike the earlier survey where all the names of the municipalities were disclosed and which led to the citizens' oppositions in those municipalities, the Ministry is assuring them their names won't be disclosed this time.

Second, in the multiple choices on the current effort level at the municipalities, there is no choice to say "No" to the debris. There are three choices, and they are:

A：既に受け入れを実施している
A: Already accepting the debris

B：被災地への職員派遣や検討会議の設置等の具体的な検討を行っている
B: Effort already ongoing such as sending the personnel to the disaster area and setting up the committee to discuss the acceptance

C：被災地への職員派遣や検討会議の設置等は行っていないが、受入れに向けた検討を行っている
C: Hasn't started sending the personnel to the disaster area or setting up the committee, but ongoing discussion toward accepting the debris

There should have been D: No plan to accept any debris from the disaster area, period.

To top it off, when it actually comes to bringing the disaster debris to those municipalities who will have secretly said yes, the residents may or may not be consulted if the case of Aichi Prefecture is any indication:

Chunichi Shinbun (10/15/2011; don't expect the link to remain long for this paper. If it is gone, go here for the full copy of the article) reports a comment from the Ministry of the Environment:

「実際に受け入れる時は、市町村側が住民に説明することなどを検討したい」

"When the actual acceptance of the debris happens, we may consider having the municipalities explain to the residents."

Doing the rudimentary reading-between-the-lines exercise, I think the Ministry is saying it does not require that the municipalities explain the debris acceptance to the residents, and it certainly does not require that the explanation be done beforehand.

Some on the net call the Ministry as "The Ministry of the Environmental Destruction". That's about right.

Here's a page from the scanned copy of the Ministry's notice, detailing what information the Ministry wants from the municipalities including the above multiple choice question:

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