” During the three long and frightening years since the triple meltdown at Fukushima Daiichi, the world has heard less and less about this manmade disaster. Money, power, and engineering hubris were put ahead of the lives and health of the people of Japan and the northern hemisphere as radiation releases continue to leave the site and migrate into the environment. This catastrophe is the world’s worst industrial disaster. Decommissioning and dismantling the reactors will take decades and complete cleanup is at least a century away ~ if ever. In this film Fairewinds Energy Education’s Arnie Gundersen gives an update on the state of Fukushima Daiichi three years later. ”
Daily Archives: March 13, 2014
Thousands protest ahead of Fukushima anniversary — St. Louis Post-Dispatch; Fukushima Anniversary: Voices from Japan — Nuclear Hotseat
1) ” TOKYO • Banging on drums and waving “Sayonara nukes” signs, thousands of people rallied in a Tokyo park and marched to Parliament on Sunday to demand an end to nuclear power ahead of the third anniversary of the Fukushima disaster.
Participants at the demonstration, one of several planned across cities in Japan, said they would never forget the March 11, 2011, nuclear disaster, the worst since Chernobyl. The plant was damaged by a massive earthquake and then hit by a tsunami.
They also vowed to block a move by the government of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to restart some of the 48 idled reactors and backpedal on the commitment by the previous government to aggressively reduce the nation’s reliance on nuclear power. Oil imports have soared since the disaster, hurting the economy. … ”
2) Voices of Japan – Hear the stories of Fukushima residents and Japanese citizens who wish to share their experiences and opinions on the management of Fukushima Daiichi to the world. Access Japanese and English versions of the podcasts HERE
Interviewees:
- Hiroaki Koide, Asst. Professor, Kyoto University Research Reactor Institute
- Taro Yamamoto, actor and member of the Japanese Diet Upper House
- Midori Kiuchi, popular television and movie actress
- Kaori Suzuki, Director of the Tarachine Citizens Radiation Monitoring Center
- Ruiko Muto, lead plaintiff of a large group of Fukushima residents who have filed a criminal complaint against Tepco and the Japanese government
- Setsuko Kida, nuclear refugee from five miles from Fukushima Daiichi and 2013 Green Party candidate for the Japanese Diet Upper House on an antinuclear platform
- Seiichi Mizuno is a businessman, former president of Seibu Department Stores, and former member of the Japanese Diet Upper House
- Kosuke Ito is a former citizen of Minamisoma, Fukushima Prefecture, who helped to start Frontier Minamisoma NPO
- Laura Inoue of Komoro Homestay Programme for Mothers and Children
The Asahi Shimbun covers “THREE YEARS AFTER”; What’s in store: radiation exposure, dumping radioactive waste & decontamination efforts
1) Risks of radiation exposure remain high for Fukushima workers
” About half of the workers at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant in the three years since the triple meltdown have been exposed to more than 5 millisieverts of radiation, a level used as a radiation exposure reference for humans.
The levels of radiation exposure among workers at the crippled Fukushima plant have decreased since the 2011 nuclear accident, but there was a spike from last summer with the problem of dealing with the growing volume of radiation-contaminated water. … ”
2) Radioactive waste piles up in Tokyo area with no place to go
” Kikuji Enomoto wanted to live his retirement in peace while helping to beautify his neighborhood, but he is now stuck residing near more than 500 tons of radioactive waste.
The waste, consisting of incinerator ash, is being stored at the Teganuma disposal site, about 800 meters from Enomoto’s home in Abiko, Chiba Prefecture. It is part of the thousands of tons of radioactive waste that remain in temporary storage in the Tokyo area nearly three years after the triple meltdown at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant. … ”
3) Decontamination planned for agricultural reservoirs in Fukushima
” The central government plans to start decontaminating hundreds of long-neglected reservoirs for agricultural use in Fukushima Prefecture that have shown unusually high radioactivity levels.
“We have been discussing the issue with the agriculture and environment ministries since last fall, and I intend to conduct the decontamination of the reservoirs,” Takumi Nemoto, the minister in charge of post-disaster reconstruction, told reporters in Tokyo on March 9. … ”
Ex-Japanese PM on how Fukushima meltdown was worse than Chernobyl & why he now opposes nuclear power — Democracy Now!
Here is an excellent interview with former Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan, who changed his position on nuclear power in lieu of the ever-so apparent damage, destruction and suffering that the March 2011 triple meltdown at Fukushima Daiichi has and continues to affect. Democracy Now’s Amy Goodman guides the conversation through Kan’s experience during the meltdowns three years ago up until the current crisis, with interwoven discussions of the Nuclear Village, the dangers of nuclear power on a global scale and the relationship between nuclear energy and nuclear warfare.
The video and full interview transcript are available HERE.
” Three years ago today a massive earthquake triggered a devastating tsunami that struck Japan’s northeast coast, resulting in an unprecedented nuclear crisis: a triple meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station. As Japan marks the anniversary with continued uncertainty around Fukushima’s long-term impact, we are joined by Naoto Kan, Japan’s prime minister at the time. It’s rare that a sitting world leader changes his position completely, but that’s what Kan has done. He explains how he came to oppose nuclear power while still in office, as he weighed Tokyo’s evacuation. “It’s impossible to totally prevent any kind of accident or disaster happening at the nuclear power plants,” Kan says. “And so, the one way to prevent this from happening, to prevent the risk of having to evacuate such huge amounts of people, 50 million people, and for the purpose, for the benefit of the lives of our people, and even the economy of Japan, I came to change the position, that the only way to do this was to totally get rid of the nuclear power plants.” “
Japan Safety : Nuclear Energy Updates 