Tokyo Shinbun: "#Fukushima Prefecture Deleted SPEEDI Emails"

It is just unbelievable.

Tokyo Shinbun reports that an unnamed official in the Fukushima prefectural government deleted emails that were received between March 11 and March 15, 2011 which contained SPEEDI simulations.

Why? Because, as this official claims,

1. He didn't notice there were such emails;

2. The emails were taking up too much space in the computer.

The excuses may have been somewhat believable in the early 1990s. I guess it is possible that the Fukushima prefectural government is still using Windows 3.1 on a stand-alone PC, dial-up internet connection, and a hard disk with a few megabyte storage.

If not, it is amazing the official got away with what he said.

From Tokyo Shinbun (3/21/2012):

福島県が拡散予測消去　当夜から受信５日分

Fukushima Prefecture deleted the dispersion simulation data it received from the day of the accident for 5 days

東京電力福島第一原発の事故で、福島県が昨年三月十一日の事故当夜から放射性物質拡散の予測データをメールで入手しながら、十五日朝までの分をなくしていたことが県への取材で分かった。この間に１、３、４号機で相次いで爆発が起きたが、県は原発周辺の自治体にデータを示していない。県の担当者は「（データの）容量が大きすぎて、消してしまった」と話している。

The Fukushima prefectural government had the dispersion simulation data of radioactive materials from the Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant accident from the evening of March 11, 2011 in emails, but lost the data up to the morning of March 15, 2011, our reporter has uncovered by speaking with the people involved. There were explosions at Reactors 1, 3 and 4 during those 5 days, but the prefectural government hasn't shown the simulation data to the municipalities around the plant. The person in charge at the prefectural government says, "The data took up too much space so I deleted it."

　文部科学省の委託で放射性物質の拡散を予測するシステム（ＳＰＥＥＤＩ＝スピーディ）を運用する原子力安全技術センター（東京）によると、センターは震災当日の昨年三月十一日午後四時四十分、文科省の指示を受け福島第一原発から放射性ヨウ素が毎時一ベクレル放出されたとの仮定で試算を開始。一時間ごとに文科省や経済産業省原子力安全・保安院にデータを送った。

The Nuclear Safety Technology Center in Tokyo is commissioned by the Ministry of Education and Science to operate the SPEEDI system which predicts the dispersion of radioactive materials. According to the Center, upon being instructed by the Ministry of Education, it started the simulation on the day of the disaster at 4:40PM on March 11, 2011 with the assumption that radioactive iodine was being released at 1 becquerel per hour rate from Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant. The Center sent the simulation data every hour to the Ministry of Education and Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency at the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry.

　国の現地対策拠点となったオフサイトセンター（ＯＦＣ、福島県大熊町）と福島県にも送る予定だったが、震災で回線が壊れたため送れなかった。

The data was to be sent to the Off-Site Center in Okuma-machi in Fukushima and to the Fukushima prefectural government, but the dedicated lines were destroyed in the earthquake/tsunami and the Center couldn't send the data.

　だが、メールの回線ならば送れることが分かり、十一日深夜、ＯＦＣに隣接する県原子力センターからの送信依頼を受け、予測データの画像を県側にメールで送信。十二日深夜には県庁の災害対策本部にも同様に送り始め、一時間ごとに結果を更新し続けた。

However, they found out they could send the data via email. Late that night on March 11, 2011, upon request from the Environmental Radioactivity Monitoring Center of Fukushima located next to the Off-Site Center, the Nuclear Safety Technology Center sent the graphic images of the dispersion simulation. The Center started sending the data to the Disaster Response Headquarters of Fukushima Prefecture in the middle of night on March 12, and kept sending them hourly updates.

　ところが、県の担当者によると、十五日朝までメールの着信に気づかず、それまでに届いていたメールは消してしまったという。

However, the person in charge at the Fukushima prefectural government says he didn't notice the emails until the morning of March 15, 2011, and that he deleted the emails.

　県は「予測は役に立たない」として、その後も送られたデータを公表せず、市町村にも知らせなかった。

The Fukushima prefectural government decided "the simulation is of no use", and never publish the data sent nor notified the municipalities.

　これらとは別に、県は十三日午前十時半ごろ、保安院からもファクスで拡散予測を受け取っていた。こちらも十二～十三日早朝までのデータだったため、「既に過去のもので、正確ではない」として公表しなかった。

Separately, the prefectural government received the dispersion simulation by fax from the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency at about 10:30AM on March 13, 2011. Since the data was from March 12 to the early morning of March 13, the prefectural government did not publish the data as "past data and not accurate".

　県の担当者は「送られてきたデータは二十キロ圏の範囲で、既に圏内の住民は避難した後だった。本来は国が公表すべきデータだが、結果として、住民が被ばくしたのは事実で、早めにお知らせすればよかった」と釈明した。

The official in charge explained, "The data was for the 20-kilometer radius, and the residents inside the radius had already evacuated. The data should have been published by the national government. But as the result [of our withholding the data] the residents were exposed to radiation, and that is true. We should have let them know sooner."

In addition to the SPEEDI simulation from the Ministry of Education, Fukushima Prefecture also had in their possession the simulation from the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency, and the simulation from TEPCO via fax. The prefectural government of Fukushima chose to sit on all of them, and started complaining about lack of information out loud.

It is equally unbelievable that the official in charge continues to work in the Fukushima prefectural government, instead of being thrown in jail.

Well I keep forgetting that Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda has preemptively exonerated anyone from any blame or responsibility when it comes to the Fukushima nuclear accident.

It's hard for me to believe that Fukushima Prefecture didn't know about the emails that contained SPEEDI data. Tellurium-132 was detected in Namie-machi, Okuma-machi, and Minami Soma City from early morning till early afternoon of March 12, 2011, well before TEPCO attempted the vent and Reactor 1 had an explosion (Asahi Shinbun, 6/3/2011). The entity that measured tellurium, I think, was Fukushima Prefecture. If they were in the dark as they claim, what were they doing in the early morning of March 11, 2011, collecting dusts to test for radioactive materials?

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