International reactions to the Fukushima nuclear accident

International reaction to 2011 Fukushima I nuclear accidents has included Humanitarian response to the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, some of which pertains to the Kukushima crisis, Operation Tomodachi and also re-evaluation of existing national nuclear energy programs.

Organized international monitoring

Many inter-governmental agencies are responding, often on an ad hoc basis, due to the failure of the Japanese government to formulate and promulgate official requests for assistance. Responders include International Atomic Energy Agency, World Meteorological Organization and the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Organization, which has radiation detection equipment deployed around the world.

Assessments by scientists

David A. Lochbaum of the Union of Concerned Scientists pointed to the fact that pools holding spent fuel rods in the top level of reactor buildings at the Fukushima I complex could release even larger quantities of hazardous substances than a reactor meltdown. This is thought to be possible if the pools should dry out so that the old fuel rods might catch fire. The New York Times reported that such pools and the rods they contain had to be kept cooled at reactor buildings near those probably affected by meltdowns, and that some of them had very probably already been exposed to the atmosphere, particularly "on a damaged storage pool for spent nuclear fuel at the No. 2 reactor at Daiichi", as well.

Masashi Goto, a former Toshiba reactor researcher and designer, warned that mixed oxide (MOX) fuel used in reactor 3 of the Fukushima I (Daiichi) plant contained plutonium, which is more toxic than the fuel used in the other reactors.

Financial markets

As a result of the incident, stock prices of many energy companies reliant on nuclear sources and listed on stock exchanges have dropped, while renewable energy companies have increased dramatically in value and interest in renewable energy has increased among private consumers. . Stock in some health and life insurance companies have also dropped.

On 16 March, the Japanese Yen hit a record high.

Safety measures related directly to the accident

• Australia - The Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency recommended that Australians within 80km of the Fukushima nuclear power plant move out of the area as a precautionary measure.

• Russia - Russian authorities were reported ready to evacuate the Kuril Islands and Sakhalin, if needed.

• United States - On 16 March: Voice of America reported that US Embassy Tokyo had advised Americans to evacuate at least 80 km from plant, or stay indoors.

See also: Operation Tomodachi

Re-evaluation of existing national nuclear energy programs

Supranational

• European Union – In an interview on ORF2, Austrian Environment Minister Nikolaus Berlakovich said that he would enter a request at the environmental meeting in Brussels on 14 March 2011 for a review of reactor safety. He emphasized both coolant and containment and compared these measures to reviews of the financial system after the banking crisis of 2008.

Americas

• Chile - In Chile, there has been much controversy over the installation of nuclear power plants, following the Chilean Government also is ready to sign a cooperation agreement with the United States Government on Nuclear Energy. Chile is a seismically active country like Japan.

• United States - The New York Times stated in an editorial that "the unfolding Japanese tragedy also should prompt Americans to closely study our own plans for coping with natural disasters and with potential nuclear plant accidents to make sure they are, indeed, strong enough. We've already seen how poor defenses left New Orleans vulnerable to Hurricane Katrina and how industrial folly and hubris led to a devastating blowout and oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico".

Mark Hibbs, a senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment's Nuclear Policy Program, reiterated the theme that "This was a wake-up call for anyone who believed that, after 50 years of nuclear power in this world, we have figured it out and can go back to business as usual."

US officials have concluded that the Japanese warnings have been insufficient, and that, deliberately or not, they have understated the potential threat of what is taking place inside the nuclear facility, according to the New York Times. Gregory Jaczko, the chairman of the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission, earlier said he believed that all the water in the spent fuel pool at Unit 4 had boiled dry, leaving fuel rods stored there exposed. "We believe that radiation levels are extremely high, which could possibly impact the ability to take corrective measures," he told a Congressional committee.

• Venezuela - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez announced a halt to plans on building a nuclear power plant.

Asia

• China - During a News Conference of the Annual Meeting of National People’s Congress of China,

The Deputy Chief of Environmental Protection Authority of China, Mr Lijun Zhang said: "We are concerned about the damage of the Nuclear Facility of Japan, concerned about the further development of this issue, we will learn from it, and will take it into account when we make strategic planning for the nuclear energy development in the future. However, our decision on development of more nuclear power plants and current arrangement on nuclear energy development will not be changed."

On 16 March, China froze nuclear plant approvals.

• India - The Prime Minister of India, Dr. Manmohan Singh, has ordered the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited to review the safety systems and designs of all the nuclear power reactors. The Government of India is also looking to put in place additional environmental safeguards to ensure safety of newly proposed nuclear reactors.

• Pakistan - The Government of Pakistan has ordered the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) to check and review the power plants security, system, and designs of all the atomic power reactors in the country. The Pakistan Nuclear Regulatory Authority (PNRA) issued safety guidelines in plants, and ordered to re-evaluate the designs of KANUPP-II and Chashman nuclear power complex in Chashman city. The PAEC is continuously monitoring the flow of events in nuclear plants in Japan in the wake of the recent earthquake and tsunami there, APP concluded.

Europe

• Germany - During the chancellorship of Gerhard Schröder, the social democratic-green government had decreed Germany's final retreat from using nuclear power by 2022, but the phase-out plan was delayed in late 2010, when during the chancellorship of Angela Merkel the conservative-liberal government decreed a 12-year delay of the schedule. This delay provoked protests, including a human chain of 50,000 from Stuttgart to the nearby nuclear plant in Neckarwestheim. This protest had long been scheduled for 12 March, which now happened to be the day of the explosion of reactor block 1. On 14 March 2011, in response to the renewed grave concern about the use of nuclear energy the Fukushima incident raised in the German public and in light of upcoming elections in several German states, Merkel declared a 3-months moratorium on the reactor lifespan extension passed in 2010. It is not yet clear what Merkel's moratorium will mean in practice, but there is a possibility that older nuclear plants like Neckarwestheim I could be shut down for good. On 15 March, the German government announced that it would temporarily shut down 7 of its 17 reactors, i.e. all reactors that went online before 1981. Former proponents of nuclear energy such as Angela Merkel, Guido Westerwelle, Stefan Mappus have changed their positions .

• Russia - Prime Minister Vladimir Putin ordered officials to check Russian nuclear facilities and to review the country's ambitious plans to develop atomic energy amid Japan's nuclear crisis.

• Spain - Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero Wednesday ordered a review of his country's nuclear power plants.