Activity Report

Twenty years since the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Disaster

(Round-table talk summarized by Moderator Prof. Shuinchi Yamashita)

Twenty years have passed since the Chernobyl nuclear power plant disaster occurred in the early morning of April 26, 1986. Over five million people still live in fear in the contaminated areas around the disaster site. What lessons did we learn from Chernobyl? NASHIM organized this round-table talk in an attempt to answer this question. Panelists engaged in Japan’s representative activities supporting Chernobyl victims met in Nagasaki National Peace Memorial Hall for the Atomic Bomb Victims to discuss the present situation and future prospects.

In the second half of the 20th century, a frenzied nuclear arms race advanced. At the same time, changes in the energy resource situation and increasing population led the world to turn more and more to nuclear power. The era of nuclear power thus commenced. Soon, an alarm bell sounded loud and clear: the worst nuclear power plant accident in history, at Chernobyl. At that time, the ongoing Cold War hindered appropriate information exchange, consequently allowing expansion of the disaster damage. Later it was learned that thyroid cancer, likely due to irradiation, was detected among large numbers of children and youths living near the disaster site. Nearly 5,000 operations have taken place locally thus far to treat these patients. Severe physiological, psychological and emotional aftereffects have been reported. The long-term health of nearly 300 people exposed to high doses of radioactivity in the power plant immediately after the accident, and of several hundred thousand decontamination workers, is also a matter of great concern. Under such circumstances, many Japanese organizations started providing continued medical assistance to Chernobyl victims, drawing on the experience, expertise and sensibility that Japan has acquired as the only A-bombed country in the world. From Nagasaki, one of the two A-bombed cities, many concerned quarters have carried out medical care or other support activities in the affected areas. Nevertheless,in studies of actual cases of long-term low-dose irradiation, and research into its health impact, progress has been slow. The need for meticulous, long-term studies and medical cooperation will continue in the future.

For the last 20 years, problems deriving from the world’s first incident of broad-based high-dose irradiation have always been met with delayed measures. What local Hibakusha need most is constant and continued support, and cooperation, in dealing with long-term health problems related to prolonged low-dose irradiation, a subject yet to be fully elucidated. The Hibakusha medical care expertise accumulated in Hiroshima and Nagasaki can be put to positive use in this regard. Once the Chernobyl disaster had passed the emergency stage, victims tended to be forgotten, resulting in a buildup of “negative assets.” In the round-table talk, how these negative assets should be settled was also discussed without reserve. The panel confirmed the great significance of continuity and perseverance in Nagasaki’s medical support for all Hibakusha in the world. It is hoped that NASHIM will further strengthen its activity base, so as to most efficiently provide medical cooperation to Chernobyl victims from a broad perspective.