Radioactive vehicles pile up in Japanese yards
Vehicle recyclers in the Fukushima Prefecture of Japan are suffering serious consequences of last year’s earthquake-related nuclear power plant accidents. End-of-life vehicles and car carcasses contaminated with radiation are said to be accumulating in recyclers’ yards. According to Napro Fukushima Co., a car recycler located in Hironomachi in the so-called Emergency Evacuation Preparation Zone, a shredder operator group has established a voluntary limit of 0.3 micro sievert if blocks of pressed cars are to be accepted…
By comparison, a Toyota Crown taken from Iwaki city several months ago has recorded 2.9 micro sievert of radiation; such highly-contaminated vehicles used in the cities of Fukushima, Koriyama and Iwaki are often found, says the company.
This problem has been on-going since the Tsunami in Fukushima; stop-piles of cars were not always condemned, they were sold domestically despite fears of the radioactive contamination. Earlier this year Russia, who has a long standing trade agreements to purchase used vehicles from Japan refused to accept the fleet of incoming cargo in Odessa when it was discovered that they were contaminated, but still managed to make there way into Russia and Ukraine.
I want to highlight one significant aspect: Toyota is the largest car manufacture in the World (by both volume and sales) and as a result have immense amounts of clout in Japan (both locally and politically) and can command a great deal of influence in and out of Japan as well. So, isn’t it counter-productive to amass continuous losses, drag your image into the ground by the aforementioned reports and articles from building these superb machines (The newer Toyota Crown Majesta is actually one of my favorite cars) that requires re-activating Oi and other Nuclear plants only to condemn them? Wouldn’t it simply make sense to build them in a energy independent nation like Iceland: who can help Japanese car makers rebuild their image (eco-friendly) as well as expand their potential profits from said PR in the hybrid-markets?
The logistics are immense, and costly but what is the alternative? Relying and formulating sales strategies for the future of the Company based upon on the absurd notion that new car buyers (the few that remain in the World) aren’t taken back by the real threat that their new purchase may induce a terminal tumor based solely on something as fickle as brand loyalty? Toyota, and all other Japanese auto makers, have far too much to lose.
I think I can hear Audi, BMW and Mercedes, all of whom, in my opinion, make an inferior product (I speak as a former owner of two brands and have first hand knowledge of the rest) wringing their hands when they think of their the wind-fall on their market-share/market-capture post-Fukushima.
I wish I could suggest sending manufacturing of all models to the US for export and sales, as a means to offset the transition to Iceland; but the truth is that the US relies far too dependent on Nuclear plants for its energy need. If a complete moratorium on nuclear plants and nation-wide decommission were in effect it surely would spur on much needed innovation and entrepreneurial investment in Natural gas and coal (both of which the US is rich in) as well as alternative sources to serve in conjunction.