At the Fukushima Nuclear Plants, an extremely serious situation continues. So far, large amounts of radioactive materials have not been released, but in the worst case, this could happen. Specifically, one or more of the following could occur:

1) a complete meltdown of the nuclear fuel as a result of a further lowering of the water level within a nuclear reactor,
2) a large-scale explosion, and
3) release of a large amount of radiation from the spent fuel storage pools.

Since the start of this crisis, many people have asked us the question, How far away from the nuclear plants should we go to be safe. It is clear that the current evacuation zone set by the Japanese government is not large enough.

Given this current situation, we make the following five demands:

1.The government's top priority should be to minimize further aggravation of the current situation. To this end, please mobilize all available resources, both domestic and international.

2.We request that various parameters (temperature, pressure, water levels etc.) from the pressure vessels, containment vessels, fuel pools and others be published on a real time basis. If certain parameters are not available due to the failure of measuring equipment or other reasons, that also needs to be specified.

3. A critical piece of information is radiation levels within the nuclear power plants. Please establish multiple non-temporary measuring locations, and release the data online. It is also important to set up several observation cameras within the plants and release the information on a continuous basis.

4. Please collect data from the radiation monitoring posts in and outside Fukushima Prefecture, identify the levels and distribution of radioactivity, simulate these patterns, and promptly publish the results.

5. Please clarify the foundation on which the current range of the evacuation zone was decided, such as how the projected dose is calculated for the purposes of the disaster prevention guidelines. Please also clarify how the evacuation zones will be decided in future, based on what kinds of predictions and concepts.

CNIC
Citizens' Nuclear Information Center
Akebonobashi Co-op 2F-B, 8-5 Sumiyoshi-cho,
Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo, 162-0065, Japan
TEL.03-3357-3800
FAX.03-3357-3801

Philip White
International Liaison Officer
Citizens' Nuclear Information Center
Phone: 81-3-3357-3800 (office)

Source: http://www.cnic.jp/english/topics/safety/earthquake/fuku18mar11petition....