International Law

Situation stabilizing

By Karl-Friedrich Lenz

says Bill Borchardt, executive director for operations at the American Nuclear Regulatory Commission (Kyodonews).

He also commented on the 5o mile evacuation advisory of the American Government, which is a much larger area than the 20 kilometers the Japanese Government designed for evacuation. In his opinion, that would have been done the same if that accident had happened in America.

He did not mention why his opinion differed from the Japanese Government. The Japanese say that it is only natural for a foreign country not in control of the response to the accident to take an extra cautious policy.

I think there is a different explanation. There were not many Americans either in the 30 or 80 kilometer zone in the first place. Therefore, it is very easy to evacuate. And there is not much of a cost to doing so, even if it means overreacting. In contrast, even with the 20 kilometer zone, there are thousands of people displaced who lose their home in already difficult circumstances. The cost of overreacting is much higher for the Japanese Government than for the Americans.

Full post as published by Lenz Blog on March 21, 2011 (boomark / email).