Justified Criticism Of The Japanese Response
The CBC reports that a Japanese government nuclear adviser quits
A senior nuclear adviser to Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan has resigned, criticizing the government for ignoring his advice on radiation limits and not doing enough to deal with the crisis at the Fukushima nuclear power plant.
Toshiso Kosako, a professor at the University of Tokyo, was only recently named an aide to Kan on March 16, five days after a magnitude-9.0 earthquake and tsunami hit Japan
In a teary news conference on Friday night, Kosako said he could not stay on while the government set, what he deemed, inappropriate radiation limits for elementary schools near the plant.
“I cannot allow this as a scholar,” he said, adding that he also opposed the government raising the limit for radiation exposure for workers at the plant.
The government has set 20-millisievert limit for radiation exposure as safe, but according to Kosako, that is 20 times too high, especially for children, who are considered more vulnerable to radiation than adults.
Professor Kosako has no intention of being associated with what he believes to be terrible decisions by the government. It has been evident for some time that the government is allowing TEPCO make the choices and then rubber-stamping them, just like the US government did with BP and the Well from Hell.
The only question now, is how soon will the Japanese elections held?
