Now They Tell Us: #Fukushima's Off-Site Center Didn't Even Have a Map That Showed Areas Outside 10-Kilometer Radius From the Plant

Tokyo Shinbun has another incredible, unbelievable report on how the Japanese government worked (or rather, didn't work) during the first 5 days of the Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant accident that started on March 11, 2011.

You've read about Fukushima Prefecture deleting the emails that had SPEEDI simulation graphics earlier. Now you're about to learn about the Off-Site Centers.

The Off-Site Centers are located near the nuclear power plants, usually within 10 kilometers from a nuclear power plant. There are 16 of them in Japan, and in case of a nuclear emergency these Off-Site Centers act as the local headquarters for nuclear disaster response.

Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant had one, 5 kilometers west of the plant in Okuma-machi. The officials and the staff who manned the Off-Site Center in Okuma-machi fled the Center on March 15 as the radiation levels shot up to 1 millisievert/hour, leaving the mayors of towns and cities in the affected areas to fend for themselves without any actionable information from the Off-Site Center.

Not only that. The Tokyo Shinbun article says the Okuma-machi Off-Site Center didn't even have a map that covered the areas outside the 10-kilometer radius from the plant. The Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency doesn't have a plan to fit the Centers with maps that show outside the 10-kilometer radius, because no formal decision has been made to revise the nuclear emergency zoning.

Bureaucrats remain bureaucrats, no matter what. Particularly the Japanese variety. Not even the worst nuclear accident is likely to change them.

From Tokyo Shinbun (3/22/2012; the link won't last long, emphasis is mine)

原発オフサイトセンター　１０キロ圏外、今も地図なし

Nuclear Power Plant Off-Site Center doesn't have maps outside the 10-kilometer radius, even today

原発事故の際、現地の対策拠点として全国に十六カ所あるオフサイトセンター（ＯＦＣ）に、いまだに十キロ圏外の詳しい地図が用意されていない。東京電力福島第一原発の事故では、発生翌日、避難地区が一気に二十キロ圏にまで拡大し、地図がなかったため、避難すべき住民を確定させるのに手間取った。ＯＦＣをめぐっては、原発にあまりにも近い立地など抜本的に見直す必要があるが、事故から一年たっても、地図の備えすら改善されていない。

There are still no detailed maps that show the areas outside the 10-kilometers from the nuclear power plants at the nation's 16 Off-Site Center (OFC) which will act as the local headquarters in case of a nuclear accident. In the Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant accident, the evacuation zone was expanded to the 20-kilometer radius on the 2nd day of the accident. But since there was no map, [the officials at the center] took too long to determine which residents to evacuate. Drastic changes are necessary for the Off-Site Centers including the locations of the Centers that are too close to the nuclear power plants. But one year since the accident, they still don't even have decent maps.

　「『地図がない』と騒然となった。そのうち誰かがどこからか探してきて、地図に線を引き始めた」。１号機原子炉建屋が水素爆発し、避難区域が十キロ圏から二十キロ圏に広がった昨年三月十二日に福島のＯＦＣにいた経済産業省原子力安全・保安院の黒木慎一審議官は、当時の状況をこう語る。

Shinichi Kuroki of the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency under the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry looks back on the early days of the accident. ""There is no map!" we panicked. Someone finally found a map somewhere, and started to draw lines on the map." Kuroki was at the Off-Site Center in Fukushima on March 12 last year when a hydrogen explosion blew up the reactor building of Reactor 1 and the evacuation zone was expanded from the 10-kilometer radius to the 20-kilometer radius.

　現行制度では、原発から半径八～十キロを防災対策重点区域（ＥＰＺ）に指定し、事前に避難計画などを定めておくことになっている。

The current system designates the area inside the 8 to 10 kilometer radius from a nuclear power plant as Emergency Planning Zone (EPZ), and the evacuation plan for the area should be in place.

　しかし、現実の原発事故の影響は想定よりずっと大きかった。二十キロ圏への避難拡大を市町村に指示しようとしても、避難計画があるのも詳しい地図があるのも十キロ圏内のみ。地図がないため、正確に地区割りができずに手間取った。

However, the real nuclear accident affected much wider areas. Even when they wanted to instruct the municipalities about the expansion of the evacuation zone to the areas inside the 20-kilometer radius, the evacuation plan and the detailed map were only for the areas inside 10-kilometer radius. Since they didn't have the map [outside the 10-kilometer radius], it took too long to accurately assign the districts for evacuation.

　政府の事故調査・検証委員会の中間報告でも「住民避難の担当者は避難区域が特定できず、市町村の問い合わせにはっきり答えられなかった」と厳しく指摘している。

In its interim report, the accident investigation commission set up by the government (the cabinet office) harshly criticizes the officials at the Off-Site Center. "People in charge of evacuating the residents could not identify the areas to evacuate, and they couldn't answer the inquiries from the affected municipalities."

　教訓を踏まえ、原子力安全委員会の専門部会は、半径五キロ圏を重大事故時に住民が直ちに避難する予防防護措置区域（ＰＡＺ）に、三十キロ圏を放射線量の高まりに応じ避難する緊急防護措置区域（ＵＰＺ）に指定する案を決めた。

Based on this lesson, one expert committee in the Nuclear Safety Commission has decided to designate the areas inside the 5-kilometer radius as Precautionary Action Zone (PAZ), and the areas inside the 30-kilometer radius as Urgent Protective Action Planning Zone (UPZ) where the residents would evacuate depending on the levels of radiation.

　区域の拡大をめぐっては、六年前、保安院が安全委に圧力をかけて拡大を見送った経緯がある。

Six years ago, NISA pressured the Nuclear Safety Commission to forgo the expansion of these zones.

　ただ、地図の不備を解消しようとする動きは鈍い。本紙の取材に対し、保安院の担当者は「個別には調べていないが、ＥＰＺ外の地図はない」と話す。

But the plan to equip the Off-Site Centers with the maps [that covers wider areas] is going very slow. To our inquiry, the person in charge at NISA said, "We haven't checked individual Centers, but there are no maps outside the EPZs."

　新たな防災指針が正式決定されていないことを理由に挙げ、「議論を見極め、どの範囲の地図を用意するか決めたい」と話した。

He said it was because a new guideline for disaster prevention hadn't been formally approved yet, and that they would wait and see how the discussion would go before deciding which areas the maps should cover.

　国内で現在、稼働している原発は二基だけだが、停止中でも冷却が止まるなどすれば、福島第一の４号機のように重大事故が起きる可能性はある。

Currently, there are only two reactors operating in Japan. But even when the reactors are stopped, there is a possibility of a severe accident like Reactor 4 at Fukushima I Nuke Plant if the cooling systems fail.

If a nuclear reactor fails again in Japan, the bureaucrats in the national government will continue to split hairs, playing Sir Humphrey. No doubt about it.

Tweet