Chernobyl: 35 years on, Fukushima: 10 years on

“Messages from Chernobyl and Fukushima to Younger Generations”

On-line Opening Ceremony
Monday 26 April 2021 in Nairobi, Kenya

Lessons learnt from

Chernobyl to Fukushima
- A Big Difference but Many Similarities -

Shunichi Yamashita, MD, Ph.D.

Vice-President, Fukushima Medical University
Professor Emeritus, Nagasaki University
Director General, National Institute of Radiological
Science, National Institutes for Quantum and
Radiological Science and Technology (QST) 1
 Radiation Exposure and Health Consequences
at the standpoint of public health risk management
• Atomic Bomb survivors’ data and radiation risk
analysis with other exposure groups have proved
the dose- and age- dependent cancer risk after
external irradiation for all their life with unlimited
latency but no PTSD risk approaches before1995.
• Chernobyl data suggest a dramatic increase of
childhood thyroid cancers associated by short-lived
radioactive iodines by its internal exposure just
after the accident and also a psychosocial impact.
• Fukushima data suggests the necessity of public
health response and of improvement of radiation
risk communication beyond the model of LNT. 2
 Public Health Emergency
• In response to any nuclear accident or disaster, medical &
health experts/responders are expected to provide rapid
countermeasures on-site and off-site, consistent with approved
guidelines, manuals, and action plans prepared in advance.
• Action plans and their implementation should comport with
international standards of radiation protection, especially when
addressing the potentially complicated and long-term health
risks that may follow.
• However, difficulties with crisis communication became
apparent just after the Fukushima NPP accident as a
compound disaster, as radiation medical & health experts
encountered an anxious public with insufficient knowledge of
radiation and its risk, who were furthermore subjected to the
ebb and flow of dubious information and conflicting value
systems.
• Into this crisis situation, a wide spectrum of experts
and stakeholders were thrust into the limelight; in
retrospect, we see room for improvement and
reflection about our own behavior during the chaos
of crisis management that was on parade.
• Moving forward, a high-priority aspect of our
mission is to advance the development of human
resources and education programs on radiation
health risks, drawing on decades of experience
including the Fukushima NPP accident.
• During such a long recovery phase, not only
scientific but human dimensional approaches are
essentially needed to support and assist their
difficult lives of victims in the affected areas.
• We should learn more honestly the lessons from
Chernobyl and Fukushima to live wisely and
positively for our precious and never-again lives .
 Epidemic of Fear against the Second
Coming Chernobyl Thyroid Cancer
• The most important lesson learned from Chernobyl
NPP accident is how to protect the public from
unnecessary exposure of internal as well as external
radiation, and also especially from the
fear/anxiety/mistrust/anger of any possibility of
increased risk of radiation-induced thyroid cancer.
• How to overcome the difficulty of understanding of
LNT model for population/group risk depends on
logical thinking way at the individual level but
emotional reaction cannot be avoided.
• It is essentially needed to understand a stochastic
effect of radiation and uncertainty of health effects
interacting various confounding factors. 5
Beyond mSv; how to overcome the
current difficult situation in Fukushima
on a preferential & individual basis
• Listening
• Companion, encouraging and respect of human dignity
• Evidence-based communication
• General health risk communication
• Radiation risk analysis/evaluation and then
• Radiation risk communication based on trust
• Consideration of different risk perception
• ………..
• …….
Sound radiation risk education for the public is currently challenged
• …. during the recovery phase after the Fukushima nuclear accident.
Lessons from Chernobyl to Fukushima

• During this period, we witnessed the demise of the

country of the Soviet Union; we feared the devastation of
the hearts and minds of the affected people and the
disintegration of the local communities as residents had
to live with anxiety and distrust and anger in a world of
radiophobia and social confusion.
• “The Road from Chernobyl to Fukushima” is a road of
humanitarian aid that protects the human dignity and
human health, it is where we share our joys and sorrows
as we walk the land contaminated by radiation fallouts.
• The ultimate goal of our journey is the recovery and
rehabilitation from negative legacy, creation of a new
condition and social system of coexistence and
coprosperity in a public exposure environment, taking
into account what the way of risk management should be.
http://www.fmu.nagasaki-u.ac.jp/en/