Japan's nuclear industry pays for scientists' trips
Source: Agencies |
December 7, 2012, Friday
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Print Edition
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JAPANESE scientists who help set national radiation exposure limits have for years have trips paid for by nuclear plant operators to attend overseas meetings of the world's top academic group on radiation safety.
The potential conflict of interest is revealed in a sentence buried in a 600-page parliamentary investigation into last year's Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear power plant disaster.
Some of the scientists have consistently given optimistic assessments about the health risks of radiation, according to interviews and government documents. Their pivotal role in setting policy after the March 2011 tsunami and ensuing nuclear meltdowns meant the difference between schoolchildren playing outside or indoors and families staying or evacuating.
One leading scientist, Ohtsura Niwa, acknowledged that the electricity industry pays for flights and hotels to go to meetings of the International Commission on Radiological Protection, and for overseas members visiting Japan. But he denied the funding influences his science, and stressed that he stands behind his view that continuing radiation worries about Fukushima are overblown.
"Those who evacuated just want to believe in the dangers of radiation to justify the action they took," he said.
The official stance of the International Commission on Radiological Protection is that health risks from radiation become zero only with zero exposure. But some of the eight Japanese ICRP members do not hold that view, asserting that low dose radiation is harmless or the risks negligible.
The medical doctor who highlighted the sentence to reporters - Hisako Sakiyama, a member of the parliamentary investigation panel - is outraged about utility funding for Japan's ICRP members. She fears radiation standards are being set at a lenient level to limit costly evacuations.
"The assertion of the utilities became the rule. That's ethically unacceptable. People's health is at stake," she said. "The view was twisted so it came out as though there is no clear evidence of the risks, or that we simply don't know."
The ICRP does not take a stand on any nation's policy, leaving that to each government. It is a charity that relies heavily on donations, and members' funding varies by nation. The group brings scientists together to study radiation effects on health and the environment, as well as the impact of disasters such as Fukushima.
In Japan, ICRP members sit on key panels at the prime minister's office and the education ministry that set radiation safety policy.
The Fukushima meltdowns brought a higher level of scrutiny to Japan's nuclear industry, revealing close ties between regulators and regulated.
Last month, some members of a panel that sets nuclear plant safety standards acknowledged that they received research and other grant money from utility companies and plant manufacturers.
The funding is not illegal in Japan.
The parliamentary investigation found that utilities have repeatedly tried to push Japanese ICRP members toward a lenient standard on radiation from as far back as 2007.
The potential conflict of interest is revealed in a sentence buried in a 600-page parliamentary investigation into last year's Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear power plant disaster.
Some of the scientists have consistently given optimistic assessments about the health risks of radiation, according to interviews and government documents. Their pivotal role in setting policy after the March 2011 tsunami and ensuing nuclear meltdowns meant the difference between schoolchildren playing outside or indoors and families staying or evacuating.
One leading scientist, Ohtsura Niwa, acknowledged that the electricity industry pays for flights and hotels to go to meetings of the International Commission on Radiological Protection, and for overseas members visiting Japan. But he denied the funding influences his science, and stressed that he stands behind his view that continuing radiation worries about Fukushima are overblown.
"Those who evacuated just want to believe in the dangers of radiation to justify the action they took," he said.
The official stance of the International Commission on Radiological Protection is that health risks from radiation become zero only with zero exposure. But some of the eight Japanese ICRP members do not hold that view, asserting that low dose radiation is harmless or the risks negligible.
The medical doctor who highlighted the sentence to reporters - Hisako Sakiyama, a member of the parliamentary investigation panel - is outraged about utility funding for Japan's ICRP members. She fears radiation standards are being set at a lenient level to limit costly evacuations.
"The assertion of the utilities became the rule. That's ethically unacceptable. People's health is at stake," she said. "The view was twisted so it came out as though there is no clear evidence of the risks, or that we simply don't know."
The ICRP does not take a stand on any nation's policy, leaving that to each government. It is a charity that relies heavily on donations, and members' funding varies by nation. The group brings scientists together to study radiation effects on health and the environment, as well as the impact of disasters such as Fukushima.
In Japan, ICRP members sit on key panels at the prime minister's office and the education ministry that set radiation safety policy.
The Fukushima meltdowns brought a higher level of scrutiny to Japan's nuclear industry, revealing close ties between regulators and regulated.
Last month, some members of a panel that sets nuclear plant safety standards acknowledged that they received research and other grant money from utility companies and plant manufacturers.
The funding is not illegal in Japan.
The parliamentary investigation found that utilities have repeatedly tried to push Japanese ICRP members toward a lenient standard on radiation from as far back as 2007.
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