VZCZCXRO5757
RR RUEHHM RUEHLN RUEHPB
DE RUEHKO #2074/01 1072308
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 172308Z APR 06
FM AMEMBASSY TOKYO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 1061
INFO RUEHZN/ENVIRONMENT SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY COLLECTIVE
RUEHKV/AMEMBASSY KIEV 0264
RUEHSK/AMEMBASSY MINSK 0112
RUEHMO/AMEMBASSY MOSCOW 0976
RUEHFK/AMCONSUL FUKUOKA 5743
RUEHNAG/AMCONSUL NAGOYA 5733
RUEHNH/AMCONSUL NAHA 8373
RUEHOK/AMCONSUL OSAKA KOBE 8920
RUEHKSO/AMCONSUL SAPPORO 6924
RHMCSUU/DEPT OF ENERGY WASHINGTON DC
RUEAUSA/DEPT OF HHS WASHINGTON DC

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 TOKYO 002074 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ENRG SOCI PARM TRGY JA
SUBJECT: CHERNOBYL DISASTER COMMEMORATED IN TOKYO 
 
TOKYO 00002074  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary.  On April 16, Japanese anti-nuclear and 
Chernobyl assistance organizations hosted a 20th anniversary 
symposium on the Chernobyl nuclear disaster.  Yuri Scherbak, 
current Foreign Policy Advisor to outgoing Verkhovna Rada 
(Parliament) Speaker Lytvyn and former Ukrainian Ambassador 
to the United States, gave the keynote address where he 
discussed the health and social consequences of the accident 
and explained how the disaster was a good example of the need 
for democratic thought in both the political and S&T realms. 
Japanese panelists focused on the need to understand the 
overall social consequences of the disaster to prevent a 
future reoccurrence of this tragedy.  Unlike previous such 
seminars where the discussion often turned to nuclear 
non-proliferation and criticism of nuclear weapons holding 
states, the featured speakers and panelists limited their 
discussions to the disaster.  End Summary. 
 
¶2. (U) On April 16, ESToff attended a Symposium held in Tokyo 
to commemorate the 20th Anniversary of the April 26, 1986 
Chernobyl Disaster.  The four-hour symposium was sponsored by 
several Japanese Chernobyl aid assistance groups and the 
Citizen's Nuclear Information Center (CNIC), a fairly active 
anti-nuclear group in Japan.  Over 400 individuals attended 
the day's events, which included a lecture by Yuri Scherbak, 
current Foreign Policy Advisor to outgoing Verkhovna Rada 
(Parliament) Speaker Lytvyn and former Ukrainian Ambassador 
to the United States, as well as a panel discussion, photo 
exhibits and the premier showing of a 25-minute documentary 
on the liquidators, or the individuals sent in to clean up 
the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant after Unit Four exploded. 
Unlike previous such seminars where the discussion often 
turned to nuclear non-proliferation and criticism of nuclear 
weapons holding states, the featured speakers and panelists 
limited their discussions to the disaster. 
 
¶3. (U) Ambassador Scherbak gave the keynote address, during 
which he called Chernobyl the greatest nuclear catastrophe in 
the history of mankind.  He said the disaster destroyed the 
nuclear industry's optimistic view about the safety and 
secure development of atomic energy.  Chernobyl -- a "monster 
of the Soviet military-nuclear complex" that was followed by 
government lies and deception -- was symbolic of the dangers 
posed to mankind by "technological super systems."  Scherbak 
argued that the disaster expressed the importance of 
democratic thought, not only within the political system, but 
also within the field of science and technology, as the 
tragedy was ultimately caused by human error and a 
totalitarian system.  It is critical to have civil society 
involved in judging the costs and benefits of nuclear power 
to provide a non-governmental perspective to the discussion. 
 
¶4. (U) Scherbak then turned to the situation in the Soviet 
Union directly following the accident.  He talked about 
secret orders to evacuate senior officials, the delays in 
 
SIPDIS 
informing citizens of what had occurred, and the sacrifices 
made by the liquidators to control the raging fire and 
contain the spewing radioactivity.  Scherbak also discussed 
the health and social consequences of the disaster, touching 
on the increased cancer rates and immunodeficiency or 
"Chernobyl AIDS", loss of homes and employment, distrust of 
the government and international institutions such as the 
IAEA and WHO, and the psychological suffering and complete 
loss of optimism in those exposed to Chernobyl.  He explained 
that many in Ukraine feel that international organizations 
have downplayed and underreported the number of victims, and 
said that Chernobyl related groups plan to release new 
figures that will be substantially higher to "reveal the 
truth" of the accident at an upcoming conference to be held 
in Kyiv.  (Note: In a follow-up conversation with ESToff, 
Scherbak also said that he would be in the United States on 
April 26 to help commemorate the Chernobyl disaster.) 
 
¶5. (U) Scherbak then returned to his earlier comments on 
bringing balance to the discussion on nuclear energy.  He 
told the large number of audience members that it was not his 
intent to get them to start demonstrating against nuclear 
power plants, calling for their immediate closure -- 
something that was very possible, given the nature of the 
audience.  Instead, Scherbak said it was unrealistic to close 
down all nuclear power plants given current energy needs 
worldwide and concerns over rising CO2 emissions.  Yet, it is 
 
TOKYO 00002074  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
important to thoroughly consider accidents such as Chernobyl 
and not forget the human suffering and environmental 
devastation that it caused.  Understanding the risks of 
nuclear power is critical.  Scherbak concluded that it is 
important to create the safest possible way forward for the 
further development of atomic energy. 
 
¶6. (U) After Ambassador Scherbak concluded his remarks, the 
symposium hosted a panel discussion entitled "What Happened, 
What Continues to Occur?"  The three Japanese panelists 
included Tetsuji Imanaka, Professor of Nuclear Engineering at 
Kyoto University, Katsumi Furitsu, a medical doctor from 
Osaka who has been actively involved in Chernobyl assistance 
programs, and Ryuichi Hirokawa, a renown photographer who has 
traveled extensively to Chernobyl to photograph the aftermath 
of the disaster.  The panelists focused much of their 
comments on the need to understand the overall social 
consequences of the disaster in Ukraine, Belarus and Russia, 
and not to just look at the rates of cancer and other 
diseases.  There are many more victims who succumbed to 
poverty and other social problems, and it was important to 
understand this to prevent future accidents of this scale. 
The panelists also criticized the data released from the IAEA 
Chernobyl Forum held last September.  Some of the panelists 
claimed that the IAEA as well as the Hiroshima-based 
Radiation Effects Research Foundation (RERF) were not 
accurately depicting the true number of Chernobyl victims. 
 
¶7. (SBU) Comment:  The symposium was a solemn commemoration 
of the tragedy that occurred twenty years ago in Chernobyl. 
Unlike typical CNIC sponsored events, comments were fairly 
balanced while underscoring the need to prevent similar 
disasters in the future.  Anti-nuclear events in Japan often 
involve some kind of criticism levied at the United States, 
whether at the possibility of Japan hosting U.S. nuclear 
aircraft carriers or on some aspect of U.S. nuclear weapons 
programs.  This time around, the only palpable criticism of 
the United States that ESToff saw was in a multi-color 
brochure included in the packet of handouts given to 
participants that protested the hosting of a nuclear carrier 
in Yokosuka. 
 
SCHIEFFER