The Study Process of “History of Radiation Exposure” by Dr. Yasuo Nakagawa

Abstract

　 Dr. Yasuo Nakagawa, professor of Kobe University, determined the underestimations of acute radiation effects in Hiroshima and Nagasaki by the U.S. Atomic Bombings. The U.S. Armed Forces Joint Commission and ABCC arbitrarily designated only epilation and purpura as symptoms of the acute radiation injuries which were often seen within 2 kilometers from the hypocenter. Other injuries such as fatigue, fever, and vomiting and so on often seen beyond 2 kilometers from the hypocenter were excluded from acute radiation ones. Nakagawa argued that the underestimation had been made to justify the U.S.atomic bombings.

　 After the World War Ⅱ , American scientists who had committed to the Manhattan Project launched the new concept of “permissible dose of radiation exposure,” instead of “tolerance dose” challenged by geneticists. During 1950s, Americans-led ICRP succeeded in curbing the anti-nuclear voices raised by concerned citizens to the U.S. Atomic Bombings on Hiroshima and Nagasaki as well as a series of nuclear tests at the Bikini Atoll.

　 Nakagawa saw through ICRP’s “international standards” of radiation exposure as “administrative means” to develop nuclear weapons and nuclear power plants. He argued such “social standards” with scientific taste, forced people to accept radiation exposure. We must reevaluate his study as those standards are still enforced to the people suffering from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant accident.