Fukushima Nuclear Disaster

The Hon. M.C. PARNELL (15:40): On Friday this week, it will be the fifth anniversary of the Fukushima nuclear disaster, and there are two stories from a fortnight ago that I think help us reflect on that sad occasion.

The first incident is one I referred to in parliament yesterday and it relates to a state government-commissioned telephone poll asking random South Australians various questions about nuclear issues. I am very grateful to an acquaintance of mine who had the foresight to turn on the recording machine as the researchers rang and asked the questions, and so I have an accurate transcript of what was asked.

Amongst the questions (some of which I think verge on push polling, but I will explore that issue on another date) was, 'The Fukushima event that took place in 2011, are you aware of it?' The next question was, 'What is your understanding of the cause of the Fukushima event?' The third question was, 'What is your understanding of the consequences of the Fukushima event?' Fukushima is in the minds of some South Australians courtesy of a Department of the Premier and Cabinet telephone polling exercise.

The second issue I want to refer to is the removal of a big street sign in Fukushima. The sign was the work of a local real estate agent by the name of Yuji Ohnuma. He was in Fukushima on the day of the earthquake, tsunami and subsequent nuclear disaster. On the afternoon of the accident, he heard that the 'power plant had exploded', those were his words. His wife, Serina, was seven months pregnant at the time. Her baby was subsequently born healthy, but she still worries about her radiation exposure on that day.

The relevance of Mr Yuji Ohnuma is that as a school child he won the competition to design the slogan for nuclear energy. The slogan that he came up with was 'Nuclear energy: the energy of a bright future'. That slogan was put onto a sign at the entrance to the town on a large billboard, and he recalls being very proud of when that billboard was erected. It stretched across the road on the way to the train station and it was seen by everyone who passed by.

That sign last month was demolished. Mr Ohnuma campaigned for the sign to remain. He wanted it to serve as an ironic reminder to future generations of the dangers of nuclear power, but in a nation that was heavily invested in atomic energy the billboard was not ironic: it was just embarrassing. In fact, on 3 March the entire structure was demolished. Needless to say, Mr Ohnuma, who was once a passionate advocate of nuclear power, is now one of its most vocal opponents.

Many people are unaware of the Australian involvement in the Fukushima disaster. I think it is fairly well understood now that there is no dispute that Australian uranium was used in the Fukushima reactors. It is not a fact that is acknowledged by the mining companies, because they always claim commercial confidentiality, but the Australian Safeguards and Non-Proliferation Office has acknowledged:

We can confirm that Australian obligated nuclear material was at the Fukushima Daiichi site and in each of the reactors—maybe five out of six, or it could have been all of them.

As for the origin of that Australian uranium, we know that in the past the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) has been supplied with uranium from BHP's Olympic Dam mine and also from the Beverley mine in South Australia.

Whilst there is still controversy over the number of people who have died, and we know that there have been many suicides and many premature deaths, largely as a result of the evacuation, it is clear that the impact on that community has been horrendous. In fact, a milestone that was reached just recently in January was that the number of evacuees for the first time fell below 100,000. At a peak, 160,000 people were evacuated from the vicinity of the nuclear power plant. That number has now fallen to 100,000, but still there are some parts that will never be able to be lived in again. On the anniversary, I think it behoves us as South Australians to remember the role we played in the Fukushima disaster.