Annotated Critique of UNSCEAR October 2013 Fukushima Report

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http://www.psr.org/resources/annotated-critique-of-unscear-fukushima-report.html

Annotated Critique of United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation (UNSCEAR) October 2013 Fukushima Report to the UN General Assembly


As the badly damaged Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear reactor site continues to release radioactivity into the environment, in late October 2013 UNSCEAR – the United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation – will present to the UN General Assembly a summary of its upcoming report: "Levels and Effects of Radiation Exposure Due to the Nuclear Accident after the 2011 Great East-Japan Earthquake and Tsunami."

PSR became concerned about some earlier statements by UNSCEAR committee members (posted on a Japanese government website) and a UN press release, which give the message that there are not, and will not be, discernable health impacts from the radiation exposure from the Fukushima catastrophe.

In collaboration with IPPNW-Germany, PSR studied the available UNSCEAR documents in detail and wrote a critique of the official UNSCEAR report to be delivered to the General Assembly on October 25, 2013. A synopsis of the critique is available here.

View Synopsis

View Full Critique

View Synopsis - Japanese

View Full Critique - Japanese

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1. Extract from the synopsis and link to the PDF

http://www.psr.org/assets/pdfs/synopsis-of-unscear-fukushima.pdf

... While parts of the UNSCEAR report will be useful in the future to assess the consequences of the nuclear meltdowns on public health and the environment, we believe the 2013 UNSCEAR report systematically underestimates the true extent of the catastrophe. Many of the assumptions are based on the two WHO/IAEA reports published in May 2012 and February 2013, which did not accurately portray the true extent of radiation exposure, followed faulty assumptions, ignored the ongoing radioactive emissions over the past 2½ years and excluded non-cancer effects of radiation.

Regarding UNSCEAR’s current report to the UN General Assembly, we find the following 10 issues to be most critical:
1) It was mainly the direction of the wind that prevented a larger catastrophe in Japan
2) The nuclear catastrophe is ongoing and continues to be a source of radioactive emissions
3) Estimates of radiation emissions and exposure should be based on neutral sources
4) The endorsement of Fukushima produce increases the risk of radioactive exposure
5) Whole Body Counters underestimate the extent of radioactive exposure
6) TEPCO's employee dose assessments cannot be relied upon
7) The special vulnerability of the embryo has to be taken into account in regards to radiation
8) Thyroid malignancies and other cancers have to be monitored for several decades
9) Monitoring should also occur for non-cancer diseases and genetic radiation effects
10) Comparisons between nuclear fallout and background radiation are misleading