Central Japan nuclear reactor fails to pass safety review
Tsuruga plant’s No. 2 reactor may lie above active fault in Fukui, watchdog says
https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Energy/Central-Japan-nuclear-reactor-fails-to-pass-safety-review— 28 Aug 24
TOKYO (Kyodo) — Japan’s nuclear watchdog on Wednesday decided that a reactor in Fukui Prefecture failed to pass its restart safety review, marking the first such case since the regulatory body’s founding after the 2011 Fukushima nuclear crisis.
The No. 2 reactor at the Tsuruga plant, operated by Japan Atomic Power, fell short of the safety requirements due to a possible active fault underneath the offline unit. The Nuclear Regulation Authority plans to seek public comments on its assessment report before making its decision official, possibly in October.
In quake-prone Japan, building reactors or other important safety facilities directly above active faults is prohibited.
Japan Atomic Power first applied for the safety screening with the hope of restarting the reactor in November 2015.
But a safety review team of the NRA concluded in July it could not rule out that an active fault located around 300 meters north of the reactor building could potentially stretch right beneath the facility.
The assessment process for the reactor had been rocky, with proceedings suspended twice after it was revealed that Japan Atomic Power had submitted documents that included inaccuracies and data rewritten without approval. It reapplied in August last year.
The Tsuruga nuclear plant is a two-unit complex, with the No. 1 reactor set to be scrapped.
The No. 2 reactor, which started commercial operations in February 1987, went offline in May 2011.
Japan revamped its regulatory setup by launching the NRA in 2012 and has also introduced a set of new safety requirements to reflect the lessons learned from the disaster at Tokyo Electric Power Co. Holdings’ Fukushima Daiichi plant, triggered by a huge earthquake and tsunami in March 2011.
Hokkaido more plugged in to renewable energy than rest of Japan
Hokkaido had over 40% of its electricity generated by renewable energy
sources in fiscal 2023, nearly twice the national average and already above
the maximum share that the central government is looking to achieve by
2030.
With use of renewables — especially wind power — expected to grow
further, the local government has set a goal of getting 60% of its
electricity from solar, on and offshore wind, biomass, hydropower,
geothermal and some nuclear energy by 2030.
For all of Japan, the average
goal is to have between 36% and 38% of electricity be from renewables by
then.
Japan Times 26th Aug 2024
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2024/08/26/japan/society/hokkaido-renewable-energy/
A robot’s attempt to get a sample of the melted nuclear fuel at Japan’s damaged reactor is suspended
An attempt to use an extendable robot to remove a fragment of melted fuel from a wrecked reactor at Japan’s tsunami-hit nuclear plant has been suspended due to a technical issue
abc news, By MARI YAMAGUCHI Associated Press, August 22, 2024,
TOKYO — An attempt to use an extendable robot to remove a fragment of melted fuel from a wrecked reactor at Japan’s tsunami-hit Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant was suspended Thursday due to a technical issue.
The collection of a tiny sample of the debris inside the Unit 2 reactor’s primary containment vessel would start the fuel debris removal phase, the most challenging part of the decadeslong decommissioning of the plant where three reactors were destroyed in the March 11, 2011, magnitude 9.0 earthquake and tsunami disaster.
The work was stopped when workers noticed that five 1.5-meter (5-foot) pipes used to maneuver the robot were placed in the wrong order and could not be corrected within the time limit for their radiation exposure, the plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings said.
The pipes were to be used to push the robot inside and pull it back out when it finished. Once inside the vessel, the robot is operated remotely from a safer location.
The robot can extend up to about 22 meters (72 feet) to reach its target area to collect a fragment from the surface of the melted fuel mound using a device equipped with tongs that hang from the tip of the robot.
The mission to obtain the fragment and return with it is to last two weeks. TEPCO said a new start date is undecided…………………………………………………………….
The government and TEPCO are sticking to a 30-40-year cleanup target set soon after the meltdown, despite criticism it is unrealistic. No specific plans for the full removal of the melted fuel debris or its storage have been decided. https://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory/robots-attempt-sample-melted-nuclear-fuel-japans-damaged-113049701
Japan: Removal of nuclear fuel remains in Fukushima will begin on August 22
the first step it will be the recovery of “a few grams” of spent fissile fuel from the plant’s nuclear reactor no. 2.
Large-scale removal of semi-melted fuel rods is expected to be undertaken early in the next decade
Tokyo, August 20 2024, https://www.agenzianova.com/en/news/Japan-the-removal-of-the-remains-of-nuclear-fuel-in-Fukushima-will-begin-on-August-22/
Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco), operator of the Japanese Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, will begin on August 22 the delicate operations to recover the remains of nuclear fuel from the reactors damaged in the 2011 disaster. The company announced today that the first step it will be the recovery of “a few grams” of spent fissile fuel from the plant’s nuclear reactor no. 2. Plans call for the gradual expansion of operations to unit #3.
Large-scale removal of semi-melted fuel rods is expected to be undertaken early in the next decade. The removal of radioactive debris contained in the power plant’s reactors is considered the most difficult challenge in the process of decommissioning and disposing of the infrastructure, which was seriously damaged following the devastating earthquake and subsequent tsunami that hit north-eastern Japan 12 years ago. In all, around 880 tonnes of radioactive debris will have to be removed from reactors number 1, 2 and 3 at the nuclear power plant.
Japan: Radioactive water leaks reported at crippled Fukushima power plant
Economic Times 14 Aug 24
About 25 tons of radioactive water have leaked within the crippled Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, the plant’s operator has reported, a week after the latest round of ocean discharge started.
Tokyo: About 25 tons of radioactive water have leaked within the crippled Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, the plant’s operator has reported, a week after the latest round of ocean discharge started.
The nuclear-contaminated water, which leaked from a surge tank connected to the Unit 2 reactor building, was meant to be contained in a tank receiving overflow from the spent nuclear fuel pool, reports Xinhua news agency, quoting Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO).
Accumulating on the first basement level of the reactor building, the leaked water led to a rise in the level of contaminated water already present in the area, TEPCO introduced on Tuesday, confirming that the contaminated water had not escaped outside the reactor building.
The leak was first identified last Friday when a decrease in the water level of the surge tank was detected, according to TEPCO, which, upon further investigation, discovered water flowing into a drain in a room on the third floor of the reactor building…………………………. https://energy.economictimes.indiatimes.com/amp/news/japan-radioactive-water-leaks-reported-at-crippled-fukushima-power-plant/112522815?fbclid=IwY2xjawErZw1leHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHSWwmPKOPQUA1lBz87XbNFrQ3wk0wpyhN7qtxdfQuEx-DbXmtfHad_QMGg_aem_4DBCWO0jAgCiBqQbTvKONA
Fans of peace call for nuclear-free Northeast Asia
https://cathnews.com/2024/08/14/fans-of-peace-call-for-nuclear-free-northeast-asia/
A three-nation Catholic peace meeting in Japan has appealed for an end to militarisation and nuclear arms race in Northeast Asia. Source: UCA News.
In a joint press statement on August 10, the participants of the Catholic Peace Forum at Nagasaki also released the “Nagasaki Appeal for Peace”, seeking peace and reconciliation in the region.
In his keynote address, Bishop Emeritus Peter Kang U-il of Jeju, co-president of Pax Christi Korea, recalled the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki during World War II and urged Christians to denounce militarisation.
“Political leaders who believe in and promote security through nuclear weapons in the face of such human tragedies can only be seen as prisoners of madness, incapable of normal thinking,” Bishop Kang said.
“It is up to Christians, who know and practice the peace of Christ, to constantly criticise and call attention to such illusions and beliefs so that they may be awakened.”
This year’s forum, themed “Nagasaki Catholic Peace Forum for a Nuclear Weapon-Free World,” was attended by more than 40 participants from Japan, South Korea, and the US.
Bishops of Nagasaki, Hiroshima, and Santa Fe dioceses were among the forum participants.
The forum was held as part of the 79th anniversary of the atomic bombings in Japan and the first anniversary of the Partnership for a World Without Nuclear Weapons, which was launched on August 9, 2002.
The forum’s appeal consisted of five “Key Asks” that were aimed at reducing militarisation and nuclear weaponry and promoting reconciliation in the region.
The forum urged to stop and reject militarisation and the arms race, a peace treaty among parties to the conflicts on the Korean peninsula, and ratify and implement the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, among others.
The forum also called for the promotion of a Common Security Framework and the Northeast Asia Nuclear Weapons Free Zone and reconciliation among the nations and peoples of the countries of past conflicts.
FULL STORY
Latest leak accident in Fukushima ‘once again exposes management chaos of TEPCO’
By Liu Xin Aug 14, 2024 https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202408/1318029.shtml
The recent report of 25 tons of radioactive water leaking from Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO)’s troubled Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant once again exposes TEPCO’s internal management chaos. It also highlights the unreliability and risks associated with Japan’s moves to dump nuclear-contaminated wastewater into the sea, analysts said.
Approximately 25 tons of water containing radioactive materials leaked into the spent fuel cooling pool of Reactor Unit 2 in the Fukushima plant. TEPCO has stopped water injection into the pool and is investigating the cause of the leak. To ascertain the precise location of the leak and its underlying cause, TEPCO plans to deploy robotic equipment for an inspection scheduled for this week, Japanese media NHK reported on Tuesday.
Although TEPCO claims that there has been no discharge into the outside environment, the report raises concerns about Japan’s current practice of dumping nuclear-contaminated wastewater into the sea given TEPCO’s notorious history of cover-ups related to the Fukushima disaster, analysts said.
This incident exposes TEPCO’s internal management chaos and disorganization. Lü Chao, a research fellow at the Liaoning Academy of Social Sciences said that both TEPCO and the Japanese government bear major responsibility for handling the Fukushima nuclear-contaminated wastewater and should be transparent about any incident that has occurred in Fukushima.
Despite using the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)’s report as a shield, Japan continues to dump nuclear-contaminated wastewater into the ocean, disregarding objections from neighboring countries and calls for international oversight. If this attitude continues, it could lead to further catastrophic incidents, causing severe and irreversible damage to the ocean and the environment, Lü told the Global Times on Wednesday.
As of press time on Wednesday, IAEA has not responded to Global Times’ inquiries on the incident.
This is not the first time this has happened in the Fukushima plant. In February, approximately 5.5 tons of wastewater, which may contain 22 billion becquerels of radioactive materials such as cesium and strontium have leaked from equipment at the nuclear power plant. Also, in October, 2023, five workers were accidentally splashed with liquid containing radioactive materials while cleaning at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, according to Japanese media.
On August 7, despite persistent opposition at home and abroad, Japan started its eighth round of dumping of nuclear-contaminated wastewater into the Pacific Ocean. In response, the spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Japan said in a statement that Japan is irresponsibly shifting potential pollution risks onto the entire world. It is continuously discharging nuclear-contaminated wastewater into the ocean without addressing international concerns about the safety of the discharge, the long-term reliability of the purification equipment and the effectiveness of monitoring arrangements.
The spokesperson urged Japan to fully cooperate in establishing a comprehensive, independent and effective long-term international monitoring arrangement involving relevant stakeholders, including neighboring countries.
Fukushima nuclear fuel debris retrieval to start as early as August
August 14, 2024 (Mainichi Japan)
The operator of the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant plans to begin
retrieving debris that contains melted nuclear fuel at one of the three
meltdown-hit reactors as early as this month, with the unit to be the first
to undergo the procedure. The removal of the radioactive debris is
considered one of the most challenging tasks in decommissioning the
Fukushima Daiichi plant, whose reactors were severely damaged by the loss
of cooling functions triggered by the 2011 earthquake and tsunami in
northeastern Japan.
https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20240814/p2g/00m/0bu/004000c
Fukushima nuclear plant detects 25 tonnes of radioactive water leak
A significant leak of 25 tonnes of radioactive water has been detected within the spent nuclear fuel cooling pool of Reactor Unit 2 at the Tokyo Electric Power Company’s (TEPCO) Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in Okuma, Fukushima Prefecture, Japan, China Media Group (CMG) reported on Tuesday.
The utility company has assured the public that the nuclear-contaminated water has not breached the plant’s containment and that the cooling system for the nuclear fuel remains operational.
To ascertain the precise location of the leak and its underlying cause, TEPCO plans to deploy robotic equipment for an inspection scheduled for this week.
Previously, TEPCO announced on August 9 that equipment related to the spent fuel pool of Reactor Unit 2 had malfunctioned. As a precautionary measure, the cooling system for the spent fuel pool was subsequently halted while investigations into the cause of the malfunction commenced.
Red Cross Hospital in Japan continuing to treat nuclear bomb victims – the hibakusha
The waiting room of the Red Cross hospital in downtown Hiroshima is always
crowded. Nearly every available seat is occupied, often by elderly people
waiting for their names to be called. Many of these men and women don’t
have typical medical histories, however. They are the surviving victims of
the American atomic bomb attack 79 years ago.
Not many Americans have Aug. 6 circled on their calendars, but it’s a day that the Japanese can’t forget. Even now, the hospital continues to treat, on average, 180
survivors — known as hibakusha — of the blasts each day.
When the United States dropped an atomic weapon on Hiroshima on Aug. 6, 1945, the
entire citizenries of both countries were working feverishly to win World
War II. For most Americans, the bomb represented a path to victory after
nearly four relentless years of battle and a technological advance that
would cement the nation as a geopolitical superpower for generations. Our
textbooks talk about the world’s first use of a nuclear weapon.
Many today in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, where the United States detonated a bomb
just three days later, talk about how those horrible events must be the
last uses of nuclear weapons.
New York Times 6th Aug 2024
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/08/06/opinion/hiroshima-nagasaki-atomic-bombing.html
Remembering Hiroshima and Nagasaki – Nuke weapons for Japan?
August 7, 2024, https://beyondnuclear.org/remembering-hiroshima-and-nagasaki/
During the Hiroshima and Nagasaki commemoration events this week, Japan’s prime minister Fumio Kishida reiterated that despite the widening nuclear threats in the world, “we must continue moving forward” on the path to nuclear disarmament. The remarks come amidst on-going concerns that Japan could quickly develop nuclear weapons given its plutonium stockpile accumulated from its civil nuclear power program and commonly described as Japan’s “bomb in the basement”.
Last year, former US secretary of state Henry Kissinger said that Japan was “heading towards becoming a nuclear power in five years”. Kishida insisted in his remarks this week that Japan will work “towards the realization of a world without nuclear weapons.” Nevertheless, Japan has not signed the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.
Meanwhile, far from disarming, the world’s nuclear powers appear to be ramping up their arsenals. “As we mourn the loss of all those killed at Hiroshima and Nagasaki by US atomic bombs, in August 1945, we cannot avoid the fact that we are closer than ever to nuclear war,” writes CND general secretary, Kate Hudson, on Beyond Nuclear International this week. ” This is a bad time for humanity — and for all forms of life on Earth. It’s time for us to stand up and say No: we refuse to be taken into nuclear Armageddon.”
Each year in the greater Washington, DC area, a commemoration is held by the Hiroshima/Nagasaki Peace Committee of the National Capitol Region. In addition to a vigil downtown, an online event was also held this year, featuring speakers Gwen DuBois of Chesapeake Physicians for Social Responsibility; Linda Pentz Gunter of Beyond Nuclear; and Fan Yang of Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom and hosted by John Steinbach. A highlight of the event — available to watch on YouTube — were remarks made by Hiroshima survivor, Hideko Tamara. Contributions were also made by Melvin Hardy, Dennis Nelson, Ellen Thomas and James Wagner. Hardy described how children from All Souls Church Unitarian sent art supplies to Hiroshima children who then sent some of their pictures back to All Souls. (One is pictured in the headline image.) Many decades later, a trip was made to Hiroshima with the drawings and paintings for a meeting with some of the original artists. A film, Pictures from a Hiroshima Schoolyard, tells this moving story.
In Toronto, Canada, an exhibition was held of 100 photos commemorating the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, including five taken by the only Japanese photographer present on the day in Hiroshima. All of the photos can be viewed on line. Read the article about the exhibition on Beyond Nuclear International.
The Nagasaki Peace Declaration 9 August 2024
we call for the Japanese government to sign and ratify the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons as soon as possible.
Everyone in the world, we are “global citizens” who live in the
huge community of Earth.
we call for the Japanese government to sign and ratify the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons as soon as possible.
Shiro Suzuki,
Mayor of Nagasaki / First Vice President of Mayors for Peace 9 August 24
People making atomic bombs!
Rest from your work for a while and close your eyes.
It was on August 9, 1945!
An atomic bomb that you had made
Brought houses and assets to naught in a flash,
Completely devastating loving families.
Survivors had to
Recover from scratch
To follow a tough, long road to bloody lives
With deep concern that an “atomic bomb disease” would end
their lives any day and
Infinite grievance over the loss of their families and relatives
Haunting them forever.
This is a quote from a poem by Ms. Fukuda Sumako, a poet from
Nagasaki who was exposed to the atomic bombing at 23 and
devoted the rest of her life to making people aware of the misery
brought by the atomic bomb while combatting atomic bomb
disease.
Since that day, hibakusha, or atomic bomb survivors, have lived
with deep sorrow over the loss of their family members and
friends, scars left on their body, the serious effect of radiation
spoiling cells and causing various symptoms even after many
years, and the hardships of discrimination and life due to being
hibakusha.
Their immense pain and suffering caused by the atomic bombing
were not just of an immediate kind. Instead, hibakusha have
experienced them throughout their lifetime.
Nevertheless, hibakusha have continued to share their
experience of surviving severe hardships with strong
determination to ensure that no one in the world will again have
the same experience as theirs.
Since that day, hibakusha, or atomic bomb survivors, have lived
with deep sorrow over the loss of their family members and
friends, scars left on their body, the serious effect of radiation
spoiling cells and causing various symptoms even after many
years, and the hardships of discrimination and life due to being
hibakusha.
Their immense pain and suffering caused by the atomic bombing
were not just of an immediate kind. Instead, hibakusha have
experienced them throughout their lifetime.
Nevertheless, hibakusha have continued to share their
experience of surviving severe hardships with strong
determination to ensure that no one in the world will again have
the same experience as theirs.
Since that day, hibakusha, or atomic bomb survivors, have lived
with deep sorrow over the loss of their family members and
friends, scars left on their body, the serious effect of radiation
spoiling cells and causing various symptoms even after many
years, and the hardships of discrimination and life due to being
hibakusha.
Their immense pain and suffering caused by the atomic bombing
were not just of an immediate kind. Instead, hibakusha have
experienced them throughout their lifetime.
Nevertheless, hibakusha have continued to share their
experience of surviving severe hardships with strong
determination to ensure that no one in the world will again have
the same experience as theirs.
To achieve this, please visit the atomic-bombed cities and listen
carefully and conscientiously, as an individual, to hibakusha
sharing their pain and thoughts.
We also call for your dialogue and diplomatic efforts to explore a
path toward peaceful solutions, no matter how difficult the path is,
instead of choosing a path toward arms expansion or threats of
force.
The government of Japan, the only state attacked by atomic
bombs in war, must express a serious attitude of pursuing a world
without nuclear weapons.
As a step toward this, we call for the Japanese government to
sign and ratify the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons
as soon as possible.
We also call for the Japanese government to firmly uphold the
principle of peace embodied in the Constitution of Japan and to
demonstrate its leadership in international efforts to ease the
heightened tension in Northeast Asia and advance disarmament
in the region, such as the Northeast Asia Nuclear-Weapon-Free
Zone initiative.
Moreover, we strongly request that further enhanced aid be given
to hibakusha, whose average age exceeds 85, and that relief
measures be adopted as soon as possible for those who were
exposed to the atomic bombings but have not yet been officially
recognized as hibakusha.
Everyone in the world, we are “global citizens” who live in the
huge community of Earth.
Imagine what would happen if a conflict like those found in the
current world escalated to bring about a nuclear war. It would
have a devastating impact not only on the lives of people but also
on the global environment, imposing a grave threat to the
existence of humankind.
That is why the abolition of nuclear weapons is an absolute
requirement for the survival of humankind, which can be viewed
as a prerequisite for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
striven for by the international community.
Nagasaki has recently seen increasing vigour of long-term efforts
to achieve a world without nuclear weapons, mainly among
younger generations. In May of this year, a peace-focused forum
supported by One Young World, a global community for young
leaders that is dubbed as the “junior Davos,” was held in
Nagasaki for the first time.
Circles of younger generations around the world working together
as leaders have expanded to various regions. They are the light
of our hope of building a sustainable and peaceful future.
People making peace!
Even if each of you has only a little power, you are never
powerless.
If we as global citizens speak up and work together, we will surely
overcome the current difficult situation. If we share our wisdom
with each other and partner with each other irrespective of any
difference in nationality, religion, race, gender, or generation, we
will surely fulfil our future vision.
Nagasaki firmly believes so.
I would like to express my deepest condolences for the lives
claimed by the atomic bombings.
Nagasaki will disseminate throughout the world a culture of
peace, that is, a culture of respecting others, fostering mutual
trust, and striving for solutions through dialogue in collaboration
with global citizens who hope to contribute to peace making.
I hereby declare that Nagasaki will continue its tireless efforts to
abolish nuclear weapons and realize permanent world peace so
that Nagasaki remains the last place to suffer an atomic bombing.
Japan starts 8th ocean discharge of Fukushima nuclear-tainted wastewater
Xinhua, 2024-08-08 09
TOKYO, Aug. 8 (Xinhua) — Despite persistent opposition at home and abroad, Japan on Wednesday started its eighth round of release of nuclear-contaminated wastewater from the crippled Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant into the Pacific Ocean.
Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), the plant’s operator, will discharge about 7,800 tons of wastewater from storage tanks into the Pacific Ocean until Aug. 25.
The Chinese Embassy in Japan on Wednesday expressed firm opposition to this irresponsible move of ocean discharge, noting that discharge concerns the health of all mankind, the global marine environment and the international public interests, and is by no means a private matter for Japan.
Japan starts 8th ocean discharge of Fukushima nuclear-tainted wastewater
Source: Xinhua
Editor: huaxia
2024-08-08 09:23:15
TOKYO, Aug. 8 (Xinhua) — Despite persistent opposition at home and abroad, Japan on Wednesday started its eighth round of release of nuclear-contaminated wastewater from the crippled Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant into the Pacific Ocean.
Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), the plant’s operator, will discharge about 7,800 tons of wastewater from storage tanks into the Pacific Ocean until Aug. 25.
The Chinese Embassy in Japan on Wednesday expressed firm opposition to this irresponsible move of ocean discharge, noting that discharge concerns the health of all mankind, the global marine environment and the international public interests, and is by no means a private matter for Japan.
Without addressing the international community’s concerns about the safety of such discharges, the long-term reliability of purification facility, and the effectiveness of monitoring arrangements, Japan’s continued release of nuclear-contaminated water into the ocean shifts the risk of potential contamination to the whole world, a spokesperson for the embassy said.
The spokesperson called on the Japanese side to fully cooperate in setting up an independent international monitoring arrangement that remains effective in the long haul and has substantive participation of stakeholders…………………… more https://english.news.cn/20240808/34fcc4b7f0054fc6a525823c411acbe1/c.html
South Korean nuclear weapons would break U.S. ties, Japan’s defense chief says
Japan Times, By Hyonhee Shin and Josh Smith
Reuters Aug 8, 2024, SEOUL –
South Korea could rupture its U.S. alliance and shock financial markets if it started building nuclear weapons, Defense Minister Shin Won-sik said, dismissing renewed domestic calls for the country’s own arsenal to deter North Korea.
As the neighboring North rapidly expands nuclear and missile capabilities, more South Korean officials and members of President Yoon Suk-yeol’s conservative ruling party have called in recent months for developing nuclear weapons.
The prospect of another term for former U.S. President Donald Trump, who complained about the cost of the U.S. military presence in South Korea and launched unprecedented talks with the North, has further fueled the debate………………..subscribers only https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2024/08/08/asia-pacific/politics/south-korean-nuclear-weapons-us/
The Impact of Nuclear Weapons on Children
Content warning: This report includes graphic stories, illustrations and photographs of extreme violence committed against children; detailed descriptions of children’s injuries, suffering and deaths; references to mental illness, suicide and child neglect; and stories of harm inflicted on pregnant women resulting in miscarriages and stillbirths.
Contents
Part I The Children of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
Part II Children Harmed by Nuclear Testing
Every day, children are killed or injured in armed conflicts around the world. Thousands of children – including many babies – are now counted among the dead in the ongoing wars in Gaza and Ukraine: a blight on humanity.
In both cases, the main perpetrators of violence against children are states armed with nuclear weapons; and in any war involving one or more such states, there is an inherent risk of nuclear catastrophe.
As this report shows in compelling and often gut-wrenching detail, it is children who would suffer the most in the event of a nuclear attack against a city today.
The Impact of Nuclear Weapons on Children is a dire warning to the governments of all nuclear-armed states and to the global public that urgent action is needed to rid the world of nuclear weapons.
By sharing the stories of children killed or injured in the US atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945 and of children harmed by nuclear tests, we hope to honour them and ensure that no one else ever suffers as they have.
Hon. Melissa Parke, Executive Director, ICAN, August 2024
Executive Summary
Nuclear weapons are designed to destroy cities; to kill and maim whole populations, children among them.
In a nuclear attack, children are more likely than adults to die or suffer severe injuries, given their greater vulnerability to the effects of nuclear weapons: heat, blast and radiation. The fact that children depend on adults for their survival also places them at higher risk of death and hardship in the aftermath of a nuclear attack, with support systems destroyed.
Tens of thousands of children were killed when the United States detonated two relatively small nuclear weapons (by today’s standard) over the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945.
Many were instantly reduced to ash and vapour. Others died in agony minutes, hours, days or weeks after the attacks from burn and blast injuries or acute radiation sickness. Countless more died years or even decades later from radiation-related cancers and other illnesses. Leukaemia – cancer of the blood – was especially prevalent among the young.
In Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the scenes of devastation were apocalyptic: Playgrounds scattered with the dead bodies of young girls and boys. Mothers cradling their lifeless babies. Children with their intestines hanging out of their bellies and strips of skin dangling from their limbs.
At some of the schools close to ground zero, the entire student population of several hundred perished in an instant. At others, there were but a few survivors. In Hiroshima, thousands of school students were working outside to create firebreaks on the morning of the attack. Approximately 6,300 of them were killed.
Those children who, by chance, escaped death carried with them severe physical and psychological scars throughout their lifetimes. What they witnessed and experienced on 6 August and 9 August 1945 and in the days that followed was permanently seared into their memories.
Thousands of children lost one or both parents, as well as siblings. Some “A-bomb orphans” were left to roam the streets, with orphanages exceeding capacity.
Many of the babies who were in their mothers’ wombs at the time of the atomic bombings were also harmed as a result of their exposure to ionising radiation. They had a greater risk of dying soon after birth or suffering from congenital abnormalities such as brain damage and microcephaly, as well as cancers and other illnesses later in life.
Pregnant women in Hiroshima and Nagasaki also experienced higher rates of spontaneous abortions and stillbirths.
In communities around the world exposed to fallout from nuclear testing, children have experienced similar harm from radiation.
Since 1945, nuclear-armed states have conducted more than two thousand nuclear test explosions at dozens of locations, dispersing radioactive material far and wide.
Among the general population, children and infants have been the most severely affected, due to their higher vulnerability to the effects of ionising radiation. Young children are three to five times more susceptible to cancer in the long term than adults from a given dose of radiation, and girls are particularly vulnerable.
In the Marshall Islands, where the United States conducted 67 nuclear tests, children played in the radioactive ash that fell from the sky, unaware of the danger. They called it “Bikini snow” – a reference to the atoll where many of the explosions took place. It burned their skin and eyes, and they quickly developed symptoms of acute radiation sickness.
For decades after the tests, women in the Marshall Islands gave birth to severely deformed babies at unusually high rates. Those born alive rarely survived more than a few days. Some had translucent skin and no discernible bones. They would refer to them as “jellyfish babies”, for they could scarcely be recognised as human beings.
Similar stories have been told by people living downwind or downstream of nuclear test sites in the United States, Kazakhstan, Ma’ohi Nui, Algeria, Kiribati, China, Australia and elsewhere.
We have a collective moral duty to honour the memories of the thousands of children killed in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, as well as those harmed by the development and testing of nuclear weapons globally. And we must pursue the goal of a nuclear-weapon-free world with determination and urgency, lest there be any more victims, young or old.
Under international humanitarian law and the Convention on the Rights of the Child, governments have a legal obligation to protect children against harm in armed conflict. To fulfil this obligation, it is imperative that they work together now to eliminate the scourge of nuclear weapons from the world.
In this report, we describe how nuclear weapons are uniquely harmful to children, based on the experiences of children in Hiroshima and Nagasaki and those living near nuclear test sites. We share their first-hand testimonies and depictions of the toll of nuclear weapons on their lives. And we explain how the ever-present fear of nuclear war – the possibility that entire cities might be destroyed at any given moment – causes psychological harm to children everywhere.
Finally, we make an urgent appeal to all governments to protect current and future generations of children by eliminating nuclear weapons, via the landmark UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, which entered into force in 2021.
Key findings
So long as nuclear weapons exist in the world, there is a very real risk that they will be used again, and that risk at present appears to be increasing.
In the event of their use, it is all but certain that many thousands of children – perhaps hundreds of thousands or more – would be counted among the dead and injured, and they would suffer in unique ways and out of proportion to the rest of the population.
In a nuclear attack, children would be more likely than adults:
- To die from burn injuries, as their skin is thinner and more delicate and burns deeper, more quickly and at a lower temperature;
- To die from blast injuries, given the relative frailty of their smaller bodies;
- To die from acute radiation sickness, as they have more cells that are growing and dividing rapidly and are significantly more vulnerable to radiation effects;
- To be unable to free themselves from collapsed and burning buildings or take other steps in the aftermath that would increase their chances of survival;
- To suffer from leukaemia, solid cancers, strokes, heart attacks and other illnesses years later as a result of the delayed effects of radiation damage to their cells; and
- To suffer privation in the aftermath of the attacks, as well as psychological trauma leading to mental disorders and suicide.
Furthermore, babies who were in their mothers’ wombs at the time of the attack would be at greater risk of:
- Death soon after birth or in early childhood;
- Microcephaly, accompanied by intellectual disability, given the higher vulnerability of the developing brain to radiation damage;
- Other developmental abnormalities;
- Growth impairment due to the reduced functioning of the thyroid; and
- Cancers and other radiation-related illnesses during childhood or later in life.
These horrifying realities should have profound implications for policy-making in countries that currently possess nuclear weapons or those that support their retention as part of military alliances.
They should also prompt organisations dedicated to the protection of children and the promotion of their rights to work to address the grave global threat posed by nuclear weapons.
While children played no part in developing these doomsday devices, it is children who would suffer the most in the event of their future use – one of the myriad reasons why such weapons must be urgently eliminated………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. more https://www.icanw.org/children?utm_campaign=2024_children_launch_an&utm_medium=email&utm_source=ican
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