PNRI: Phl safe from radiation despite Japan nuke alert

MANILA, Philippines -  The country remains safe from harmful radiation despite the raising of the nuclear emergency in Japan to the highest level, the Philippine Nuclear Research Institute (PNRI) said yesterday.

In a press conference, PNRI deputy director Corazon Bernido clarified that the raising of the emergency status to level 7 at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant does not mean that the damaged nuclear facility is emitting more radioactive particles.

“We want to assure Filipinos that we have nothing to worry about. The upgrading of the level from 5 to 7 did not mean that there was a new accident (at the power plant) and that there are new radioactive particles being released,” Bernido said.

“We are safe and we maintain that the situation has improved since the accident, there’s no need to be alarmed,” she said.

Bernido said the PNRI continues to record normal levels of radioactivity in the country.

Japanese authorities on Tuesday raised the Fukushima nuclear alert from level 5 to level 7, the same alert level for the Chernobyl accident in 1986.

Level 7 is described as “major accident” based on the International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale (INES).

The INES is a system devised by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) “for promptly communicating to the public in consistent terms the safety significance of reported nuclear and radiological incidents and accidents.”

“INES is not an alert level like a typhoon signal or volcano alert. (It is) not intended to be used as a basis for emergency response,” Bernido said.

She said the amount of radiation released by the power plant “is still only about 10 percent of that spewed into the air when the Chernobyl reactor exploded.”

“The Chernobyl release also had a much wider dispersion than the Fukushima Daiichi release,” she said.

Bernido said Japanese experts have detected radioactive particles in the air, in plants and vegetables, and in tap water and the ocean.

“Fukushima is reported to have released between 370,000 and 630,000 terabecquerels of iodine-131, way below the 5.2 million terabecquerels released from Chernobyl,” she said.

The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) announced on Tuesday voluntary repatriation for Filipinos living within 50 km to 100 km of the nuclear plant.

Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario said the government would shoulder the full cost of repatriation.

Bernido said they have not been consulted by the DFA regarding the repatriation.

“The communication is between the two governments. They (DFA officials) are getting information directly from Japanese authorities, we receive information from different channels,” Bernido said.

She said the PNRI receives its information from the IAEA. But she said they would meet with DFA officials this week to update them on the radiation emergency in Japan.

Repatriation readied

In Fort Magsaysay, Nueva Ecija, President Aquino said preparations were underway for the evacuation or repatriation of Filipinos living near the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant. The President was in Fort Magsaysay for the joint US-Philippines Balikatan Exercise.

“At 100-km point, voluntary repatriation if our fellowmen want it. What’s good with Japan, more or less we have a definitive idea (of the situation), number one. Number two, we are in the advanced stages of chartering airplanes so the government can repatriate (the Filipinos),” Aquino said.

He said he was in constant touch with Science and Technology Secretary Mario Montejo, who assured him that radiation risk was not getting worse despite the alert level 7.

The President stressed they cannot force Filipinos to leave their homes in Japan, just like in Libya where many Filipino workers had chosen to remain despite a bloody civil war after they had been promised higher salaries.

He said the government cannot match their Libyan employers’ offer to triple their salaries.

Presidential Communications Development and Strategic Planning Office Secretary Ricky Carandang said some of the Filipinas married to Japanese preferred to stay.

“There are limits to what we can impose. There is not much we can do but we will do what we can to enforce the evacuation of the Filipinos,” Carandang said.

“I think it’s more than voluntary now. I think we’re urging them a little more strongly to leave. But again, it’s physically difficult to force them to leave but our urging them to leave will now be more urgent,” Carandang said.

Carandang said it would be up to the DFA to decide if it would also assist the Japanese husbands of Filipinas who might want to leave Japan.

Meanwhile, the DFA said at least 55 Filipinos, including children, have expressed willingness to be repatriated to the Philippines.

The DFA said the travel documents of Filipinos wishing to be repatriated would be processed in Omiya in Saitama prefecture.

The hotline numbers at DFA’s Crisis Management Center are 834-3245 and 834-3240. Requests for information may also be sent through e-mail address [email protected]. – With Aurea Calica, Pia Lee-Brago