fpip | More than two years after an earthquake and tsunami
wreaked havoc on a Japanese power plant, the Fukushima nuclear disaster
is one of the most serious threats to public health
in the Asia-Pacific, and the worst case of nuclear contamination the
world has ever seen. Radiation continues to leak from the crippled
Fukushima Daiichi site into groundwater, threatening to contaminate the
entire Pacific Ocean. The cleanup will require an unprecedented global
effort.
Initially, the leaked radioactive materials consisted of
cesium-137 and 134, and to a lesser degree iodine-131. Of these, the
real long-term threat comes from cesium-137,
which is easily absorbed into bodily tissue—and its half-life of 30
years means it will be a threat for decades to come. Recent measurements
indicate that escaping water also has increasing levels of
strontium-90, a far more dangerous radioactive material than cesium.
Strontium-90 mimics calcium and is readily absorbed into the bones of
humans and animals.
The Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO)
recently announced that it lacks the expertise to effectively control
the flow of radiation into groundwater and seawater and is seeking help
from the Japanese government.
TEPCO has proposed setting up a subterranean barrier around the plant
by freezing the ground, thereby preventing radioactive water from
eventually leaking into the ocean—an approach that has never before been
attempted in a case of massive radiation leakage. TEPCO has also
proposed erecting additional walls now that the existing wall has been
overwhelmed by the approximately 400 tons per day of water flowing into
the power plant.
But even if these proposals were to succeed, they would not constitute a long-term solution.
A New Space Race
Solving the Fukushima Daiichi crisis needs to be
considered a challenge akin to putting a person on the moon in the
1960s. This complex technological feat will require focused attention
and the concentration of tremendous resources over decades. But this
time the effort must be international, as the situation potentially puts
the health of hundreds of millions at risk. The long-term solution to
this crisis deserves at least as much attention from government and
industry as do nuclear proliferation, terrorism, the economy, and crime.
To solve the Fukushima Daiichi problem will require
enlisting the best and the brightest to come up with a long-term plan to
be implemented over the next century. Experts from around the world
need to contribute their insights and ideas. They should come from
diverse fields—engineering, biology, demographics, agriculture,
philosophy, history, art, urban design, and more. They will need to work
together at multiple levels to develop a comprehensive assessment of
how to rebuild communities, resettle people, control the leakage of
radiation, dispose safely of the contaminated water and soil, and
contain the radiation. They will also need to find ways to completely
dismantle the damaged reactor, although that challenge may require
technologies not available until decades from now.
Such a plan will require the development of
unprecedented technologies, such as robots that can function in highly
radioactive environments. This project might capture the imagination of
innovators in the robotics world and give a civilian application to
existing military technology. Improved robot technology would prevent
the tragic scenes of old people and others volunteering to enter into the reactors at the risk of their own wellbeing.
The Fukushima disaster is a crisis for all of humanity,
but it is a crisis that can serve as an opportunity to construct global
networks for unprecedented collaboration. Groups or teams aided by
sophisticated computer technology can start to break down into workable
pieces the immense problems resulting from the ongoing spillage. Then
experts can come back with the best recommendations and a concrete plan
for action. The effort can draw on the precedents of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, but it must go far further.
In his book Reinventing Discovery: The New Era of Networked Science,
Michael Nielsen describes principles of networked science that can be
applied on an unprecedented scale. The breakthroughs that come from this
effort can also be used for other long-term programs such as the
cleanup of the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico or the global response to climate change.
The collaborative research regarding Fukushima should take place on a
very large scale, larger than the sequencing of the human genome or the
maintenance of the Large Hadron Collider.
Finally, there is an opportunity to entirely reinvent the field of
public diplomacy in response to this crisis. Public diplomacy can move
from a somewhat ambiguous effort by national governments to repackage
their messaging to a serious forum for debate and action on
international issues. As public diplomacy matures through the experience
of Fukushima, we can devise new strategies for bringing together
hundreds of thousands of people around the world to respond to mutual
threats. Taking a clue from networked science, public diplomacy could
serve as a platform for serious, long-term international collaboration
on critical topics such as poverty, renewable energy, and pollution
control.
