（社説）川内再稼働を前に 避難の不安が置き去りだ

--The Asahi Shimbun, Aug. 8
EDITORIAL: Concerns about evacuations in nuclear emergencies continue unabated
（社説）川内再稼働を前に　避難の不安が置き去りだ

The 2011 nuclear disaster resulted in a horrifying scenario in which nuclear fuel inside reactors melted down, triggering a massive release of radioactive materials into the environment outside the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.
　原子炉内の核燃料が溶け、大量の放射性物質が発電所の外にばらまかれる。福島第一原発事故で、私たちが目の当たりにした現実だ。

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has proposed a system of five layers of safety measures for nuclear power plants. The nuclear watchdog urges each country operating nuclear power plants to adopt this approach, known as “defense-in-depth,” to ensure the facilities operate safely.
　国際原子力機関（ＩＡＥＡ）は、原発の安全を保つ対策を５層に分類して、各国に求めてきている。

The final barrier in this system is prevention of radiation exposure to people living in areas around nuclear power plants.
その「最後の壁」が周辺住民の被曝（ひばく）を防ぐ対策だ。

Specifically, this fifth and final stage of defense-in-depth should be implemented in the form of plans developed by the central and local governments to mitigate the consequences of nuclear accidents and evacuate local residents.
　これを具体化するのが国や自治体の防災計画と避難計画だ。

When the Fukushima disaster occurred, however, no effective plan existed for the mass evacuation of local residents in Japan. This is because the possibility of a severe nuclear accident had been ruled out.
　ところが「過酷事故は起きない」としてきた日本には、多数の住民が避難する想定もなかった。

As a result, the accident triggered utter chaos in local communities around the Fukushima plant.
実際に事故が起きると、被災地は大混乱に陥った。

Now, more than four years since the disaster unfolded, Kyushu Electric Power Co.’s Sendai nuclear power plant in Kagoshima Prefecture is expected to restart its No. 1 reactor as early as Aug. 11.
　あれから４年余り。九州電力川内原発（鹿児島県薩摩川内市）が１１日にも再稼働する。

But the mitigation and evacuation plans currently in place are far from reassuring to local residents. The responsibility to establish the “final barrier” and ensure the safety of residents rests with the local government. There should be no headlong rush toward restarting the reactor when serious safety concerns persist.
　しかし、防災・避難計画は到底、住民が安心できるものではない。「最後の壁」を整え、住民の安全を守る責任は自治体にある。不安を残したまま、再稼働に突き進んではならない。

SERIOUSNESS OF EVACUATION PLANS QUESTIONED
　■命を守る気があるか

After the Fukushima accident, the central government made it mandatory for all local governments within 30 kilometers of a nuclear power plant to develop disaster mitigation and evacuation plans.
　事故後、国は原発の３０キロ圏の自治体に防災・避難計画づくりを義務づけた。

All the nine municipalities within 30 km of the Sendai plant have drawn up such plans. The total population of the areas covered is about 210,000.
川内原発周辺の７市２町はすべて作成済みだ。対象人口は２１万人にのぼる。

Takuro Eto, 58, who operates a daytime care service for the elderly in Ichikikushikino, a city located about 17 km from the Sendai plant, is deeply skeptical about the evacuation plan crafted by the municipal government.
　原発から約１７キロのいちき串木野市で、デイサービス施設を営む江藤卓朗さん（５８）は、避難計画への不信感を募らせる。

“Are they really serious about protecting the lives of people?” he said.
「命を守る気があるのか」と。

Many of the 10 or so elderly people who regularly come to Eto’s facility are suffering from dementia. If a serious nuclear accident occurs, they are required to return to their homes before being evacuated, according to the city’s evacuation plan.
　施設に通う約１０人のお年寄りの多くは認知症を患う。市の避難計画に従えば、いったん自宅に戻すことになる。

One of these patients lives alone in a house located within 10 km of the plant.
　だがある利用者の家は原発から１０キロ以内にあり、ひとり暮らしだ。

“Are we supposed to have this patient return home, which is located closer to the plant?” Eto said indignantly. “How can we ask our staffers to escort the patient home (in such an emergency)?”
「わざわざ近くに帰すのか。職員にも『送って』と言えるのか」と江藤さんは悩む。

How to evacuate people who cannot move on their own, such as the residents of nursing homes and hospital inpatients, also poses a challenge.
　老人ホームの入所者や病院の入院患者ら自力では動けない人たちの避難も難題だ。

The Kagoshima prefectural government has secured evacuation destinations for the 17 nursing homes and hospitals within 10 km of the Sendai plant. As for the 227 facilities located between 10 and 30 km from the plant, however, the local government has decided to do computer searches after an accident happens to find facilities that can accommodate those evacuees.
　鹿児島県は１０キロ圏の１７施設は避難先を確保したが、１０～３０キロ圏の２２７施設は、県が事故後にコンピューターで避難先を探し、個別連絡することにした。

An employee at a home for elderly people requiring special care located within a 30-km radius of the nuclear plant voices anxiety about the plan.
“We have only one staff member on night duty," the employee said. "How can the staffer deal with evacuating the residents to an unfamiliar place in an emergency?”
　３０キロ圏の特別養護老人ホーム職員は「夜勤時は職員が１人だけ。いきなり知らないところへ避難しろと言われてもどうすればいいのか」と不安を漏らす。

Despite such concerns, the prefectural government has no plan to carry out an evacuation drill involving local residents to test the effectiveness of the evacuation plan before the reactor is brought back online.
　だが県は、避難計画の実効性を確かめる住民参加型訓練を再稼働前には実施しない方針だ。

“Kyushu Electric Power currently has no time (for such a drill) as it is busy with inspections prior to the reactor restart,” Kagoshima Governor Yuichi Ito said.
伊藤祐一郎知事は「使用前検査で九州電力に余裕がない」と説明する。

An Asahi Shimbun survey revealed that 66 percent of medical institutions and 49 percent of social welfare facilities within 30 km of nuclear power plants across Japan have not compiled mandatory evacuation plans specifying evacuation destinations, routes and transportation means to be used in the event of an accident.
　朝日新聞の調べでは、全国の原発の３０キロ圏にある医療機関の６６％、社会福祉施設の４９％が、避難先や経路、移動手段の避難計画をまだ作っていない。

DIALOGUE WITH LOCAL RESIDENTS ESSENTIAL
　■住民との対話不可欠

The fifth level of the IAEA’s defense-in-depth safety approach--the final barrier--should be designed to work effectively to protect public health even in cases in which all the other four layers of defense have failed.
　ＩＡＥＡの「最後の壁」は、ほかの４層がすべて突破されたことを前提とし、それでも有効に機能することが大原則だ。

In Japan, this stage of defense is the local government’s responsibility. Evacuation plans are not covered by the Nuclear Regulation Authority’s safety assessments. Such plans are to be simply approved by the nuclear disaster prevention council, headed by the prime minister.
　日本でこの対策を担うのは自治体だ。原子力規制委員会は避難計画を審査対象にしていない。首相がトップの原子力防災会議も計画を「了承」するだけだ。

It should be assumed that the responsibility for protecting local residents from nuclear accidents lies with the local government, which is abreast of special regional circumstances.
住民を守る責任はまず、地域の事情に通じた自治体が負っていると考えるべきだ。

According to experts, in the disaster at the Fukushima No.1 plant, even the nuclear fuel pool of the No. 4 reactor, which was offline at that time, was at risk of a severe accident.
　第一原発の事故では、運転休止中だった４号機燃料プールも過酷事故に陥る可能性があったと指摘されている。

One vital lesson from the catastrophe is that the mere existence of a nuclear reactor poses serious safety risks.
原発は存在するだけでリスクであることが、事故の教訓でもある。

Evacuation plans are indispensable, whether the reactors are restarted or not.
再稼働する、しないに関わらず、避難計画は必要不可欠なのだ。

To be sure, it is almost impossible to create a perfect evacuation plan. But it is possible to clarify what can be done, ascertain problems to be solved and explain them to local residents.
　確かに、完璧な避難計画を求めることには無理はある。だが、何ができて、どんな課題があるのかを明らかにし、住民に説明することはできる。

To do so, the local governments of areas where nuclear plants are located need to conduct drills to test the effectiveness of their mitigation and evacuation plans and hold the necessary dialogue with local residents.
そのために自治体は訓練を通じて防災・避難計画の実効性を検証し、住民と対話を重ねるべきだ。

It is said that a two-stage evacuation approach is effective during nuclear emergencies. Under this approach, residents within 5 km of the plant should be evacuated first. People living between 5 and 30 km from the plant should first take refuge indoors to wait for their own evacuation.
　原発事故時には、５キロ圏の住民がまず避難し、５～３０キロ圏は屋内退避の後、避難する「２段階避難」が有効とされる。

It is obvious that this approach does not work without the understanding and cooperation of the local residents.
住民の理解と協力なしにうまくいかないのは、明らかだ。

If local governments are responsible for the safety of their residents, they should also be involved in the process of deciding on whether to restart reactors.
　自治体が住民の安全確保に責任を負うなら、原発再稼働の是非に関与するのは当然だ。

Currently, however, under agreements with electric utilities, only the prefectures and municipalities that host nuclear power plants have the right to agree to reactor restarts. But this right should also be given at least to all the local governments in the 30-km zone that are obliged to map out evacuation plans.
電力会社との協定を根拠に、今は原発が立地する道県と市町村だけが持つ「同意権」を、少なくとも、防災・避難計画づくりの義務を負う３０キロ圏の全自治体に認めるべきだ。

Nuclear reactors should be considered to be too dangerous if the local governments of areas that can be affected by accidents involving the reactors refuse to support their operations. These reactors should be decommissioned as soon as possible.
被害が及びうる自治体の同意さえ得られない原発は危険度も高いといえる。早めの廃炉につなげるべきだ。

CONTINUED FAILURE TO ACT
　■不作為を重ねるのか

The Diet’s investigative committee that looked into the Fukushima accident has pointed out that little serious effort has been made in Japan to establish even the fourth level of the IAEA’s defense-in-depth strategy for nuclear safety, or control of severe plant conditions, the stage before the final barrier.
　国会の事故調査委員会は、ＩＡＥＡの５層の防護策のうち、「最後の壁」の前に位置する過酷事故への備え（４層）も、日本はほとんど取り組んでこなかった、と指摘している。

In 2006, the Nuclear Safety Commission tried to make a sweeping review based on the IAEA standards of the priority areas designated under the government’s nuclear disaster prevention policy. But the plan was dropped in the face of opposition from the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency, which feared such a review would provoke anxiety among local residents, according to the findings of the investigation.
　旧原子力安全委員会は０６年、ＩＡＥＡ基準に沿って防災対策重点地域を見直そうとしたが、原子力安全・保安院が「住民に不安を与える」と抵抗し、見送られたこともわかっている。

The radiation exposure that afflicted many residents around the Fukushima plant could have been avoided. Many patients in hospitals who were not evacuated quickly enough died due to deteriorating health conditions. More than 1,900 people in Fukushima Prefecture have died due to causes related to the nuclear accident.
　避けられたはずの被曝を住民は余儀なくされ、救出が遅れた病院で入院患者が体調悪化で相次いで亡くなった。福島県内の関連死は１９００人を超す。

Have all the relevant lessons from the calamity been gleaned and absorbed to prevent any further casualties of administrative nonfeasance?
　行政の不作為による犠牲者を生まないため、教訓を徹底的に引き出しているのか。

This is the question local governments should ask first in examining and evaluating their abilities to protect residents from nuclear accidents.
自治体はそこから点検してほしい。