Nuclear-Free Activist & Artist Mayumi Oda speaking at the 2011 Moana Nui Conference

Longtime nuclear-free activist and artist Mayumi Oda reveals dark, obscured interconnections between Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Chernobyl and Fukushima in this moving talk given at the 2011 Moana Nui conference in Hawai'i.

Known to many as the “Matisse of Japan,” Mayumi Oda has done extensive work with female goddess imagery. Born to a Buddhist family in Japan in 1941, Mayumi studied fine art and traditional Japanese fabric dying. In 1966 she graduatied from Tokyo University of Fine Arts. Mayumi’s unique apprenticeship dying fabric for kimonos influences the color and composition of all of her work.

Mayumi has spent many years of her life as a “global activist” participating in anti-nuclear campaigns worldwide. She founded Plutonium Free Future in 1992. On behalf of her organization, Oda lectured and held workshops on Nuclear Patriarchy to Solar Communities at the United Nations NGO Forum and the Women of Vision Conference in Washington DC.

Notes from her speech:

I'm 70-years-old now. I was born the year right before Pearl Harbor. For 70 years, I've been struggling with nuclearism. I was 4-years-old when my country was detonated with atomic bombs...

The shadow image of people without any body left stuck in concrete walls...just absolutely scared me as a child.

When my sister country, Korea, had a war, and people crossing over in the cold, it just made me so anxious, I grew up with this kind of fear of....As a child, I thought it was a kind of stupidity, how could people get involved with this.

Now with Hiroshima, Nagasaki, and Fukushima, I feel like Japanese were born to deal with this incredible legacy of nuclear development...

Passion Runs High at Global Yokohama Conference as Delegates Demand a Nuclear Free World; Justice for Fukushima Citizens

With 11,500 participants from 30 countries attending this past weekend’s two-day Global Conference for a Nuclear Power Free World, which featured a total of more than 100 talk sessions, interactive workshops, musical performances and film screenings, plus information-laden booths from numerous NGOs and citizen organizations, every individual attendee undoubtedly had their own completely unique experience of the event. A commonality certainly shared by all, however, was a vision of a world vastly different to the one that allowed the Fukushima nuclear disaster to occur—as well as a staunch determination to ensure that nuclear destruction never befalls our planet again.

Organized by several major Japan-based and international NGOs (with the Peace Boat serving as secretariat), the weekend kicked off with an opening session where one panelist after the next expressed dismay at Japan’s present nuclear policies, as well as the suffering unleashed from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant accident. “Japan’s nuclear regulatory agency being housed within the economic ministry is no different than criminals living under the same roof as the police,” charged former Fukushima prefectural governor Eisaku Sato, long an outspoken critic of nuclear power.

Tetsunari Iida, the director of the Institute for Sustainable Energy Policies, spoke similarly of a “citizen revolution that has occurred as a result of the ludicrous, baseless statements that have continued to be released by the Japanese government following the Fukushima catastrophe”—a point echoed by German parliamentarian Rebecca Harms, who said pointedly, “With the majority public opinion in Japan now standing solidly against nuclear power, why the hell would Japan ever consider promoting it again?”

My own personal experience of the conference included interpreting for two amazing sessions, as well as filming several interviews for the upcoming documentary film project Uncanny Terrain, which follows organic farmers from Fukushima who have decided against all odds to continue their livelihoods—remaining on the land that has sometimes been in their families for generations, and continuing to produce food while testing it for safety standards. Not easy circumstances by any means, and I greatly admired the strength and conviction of the farmers I met who had travelled to Yokohama for the conference.

Speaking of food safety, I was also quite glad to run into fellow blogger Martin Frid, whom I have corresponded with for several years but actually never yet met in person. He was recently interviewed for an article titled "Fukushima Fallout", which looks in-depth at food-related concerns in Japan following the March disaster.

The first conference session that I helped interpret was an evening panel discussion titled “Real Talk About Creating a ‘New Japan’”, which featured a lineup of many well-known cultural figures—some of whom had also participated in the recent Atomic Café event held in Tokyo in November. While the panelists acknowledged existing differences of opinion—whether to stop nuclear power immediately or phase it out more gradually, for example—they all expressed the same future ideal for their country in terms of clean and sustainable energy, media accountability, and truly democratic policies.

“(Anthropologist Shinichi) Nakazawa can serve as the researcher for this new and improved Japan, while (singer Tokiko) Kato and (guitarist/violinist) Sugizo can write its music, (advertiser Miyako) Maekita and (visualist Macoto) Tezka can create its imagery, and (broadcaster Peter) Barakan can be its announcer!” they offered enthusiastically, referencing each of their own individual talents while reminding audience members that each one of us similarly has a role to play in contributing to this new future. The panelists also spoke supportively of the fledgling Greens Japan political party, which aims to put forth its first congressional candidates in 2013.

Scenes from the conference (Photos: Emilie McGlone)

The second session for which I assisted with interpretation was a Sunday afternoon event in the Global Discussion room titled “Lessons from Chernobyl and Fukushima”, where speakers from both regions shared their experiences in order to learn from one another and create a network of solidarity.

Anton Vdovichenko, who runs a Russian NGO for Chernobyl youth, explained that after the local economy was devastated by the accident, many adults lost their jobs and turned to drinking—which in turn often meant that their kids ended up in the streets doing likewise. He explained that his NGO organized activities to guide young people toward healthier futures—and that he would be on hand to offer guidance in case the young people of Fukushima began to experience similar hardships.

This was followed by a moving speech from Fukushima mother Mika Takamura, who shared her confusion at receiving absolutely no reliable information or directives from the government during the critical hours, days and weeks following the nuclear accident—as well as her pain at being unable to send her five year-old outside to play in their hometown of Minami-Soma, which borders the exclusion zone. “I am also unable to obtain a whole body (radiation) counter for my son because he does not meet the age requirement of six years,” she said, her eyes and voice displaying obvious anguish. 　

Mexico-, Brazil- and U.S.-based photographer Jan Smith rounded out the session, sharing his experience of traveling to Chernobyl following the 1986 nuclear disaster—and adding that he now saw similarities with Fukushima in terms of the human stories that had fallen through the cracks of both media sensationalism and government cover-up following the disasters. His excellent analysis of what he witnessed and experienced in Fukushima may be read here.

Additional conference highlights—among many, many others—included sessions connecting the experiences of hibakusha from Hiroshima and Nagasaki with those of Fukushima, various booths and tables to collect signatures for the presently ongoing citizen referendum on nuclear power, a room exclusively for Fukushima citizens to share their experiences since the disaster and network with others, a demonstration parading through the streets of Yokohama with the message of a nuclear-free world, and countless personal statements where everyone from musicians to academics to politicians shared their strong desire for a world where nuclear-related suffering exists no longer.

Actor Taro Yamamoto, who lost work for his vocal anti-nuclear campaigning, 

addresses conference attendees in main hall

Aileen Mioko Smith, Executive Director of the Kyoto-based NGO Green Action,

 speaks to participants in the weekend's march for a nuclear-free future 

(Photo: Emilie McGlone)

The weekend’s closing session included a lineup of speeches that were just as fiery as those from its debut—perhaps even more so, since everyone had since had time to become even further inspired by the intense energy generated during the weekend’s incredible lineup of events.

“This conference hall is overflowing with passion,” said emcee Tomoyo Nonaka, the former CEO of Sanyo Electric who now presides over the environmental organization Gaia Initiative. “While 3/11 made it clear that Japan was not living under a democracy, we are now standing at the threshold of truly being able to create a democratic nation for the first time in our history.”

This was followed by a chant from Abacca Anjain-Maddison, a former Marshall Islands senator who has campaigned long and tirelessly on behalf of the suffering caused from repeated nuclear testing by the U.S. government. In a sense echoing Nonaka, she said, “The words that I just sang refer to the energy exerted when a mother is giving birth.

The energy that I feel here tonight in this room is the very same.”

The powerful conference declaration may be read here, and videos may be watched on the event’s official television channel. Concrete ideas and proposals generated throughout the conference have also been compiled within an online resource titled the Forest of Action, to which ongoing contributions are encouraged.

Conference attendees Noboru Imamura (left) and Hito, both seasoned activists for disabled rights and other social causes. "Issues facing radiation survivors and disabled individuals have the same structure and root causes: Disrespect of human rights, empty rhetoric, and complete lack of responsibility," explained Imamura. "We must continue connecting different social movements in order to attain true justice for everyone."


--Kimberly Hughes

Michio Kaku on Fukushima's status & containment; parallels with BP Oil & Katrina; citizen-based radiation monitoring; clean energy; & Einstein

Some excerpts from Cindy Sheehan's interview with theoretical physicist Michio Kaku:

...Well I just got back from my 2-week trip to Japan and it was a grueling and exhausting trip. I ended up getting a high fever and having to stay in bed for a few days. Besides all that it was a very good trip and I learned so much about what is happening there with the Fukushima reactor meltdown and the aftermath of the earthquake and tsunami.

But also about the very committed and dedicated organizing that’s happening there to organize and revitalize a new movement against nuclear power and of course nuclear bombs. It was very inspirational for me to be in Japan in Hiroshima and Nagasaki on the days that my country dropped two weapons of mass destruction on innocent populations there and to see how the survival instinct in human beings is so great and the way people worked together and rebuilt those cities and their lives after the disaster.

I think it should give the people of Fukushima a lot of inspiration and hope too that recovery from this disaster is possible...

Now remember that three of the cores have experienced 100 percent core melts and the only reason why we didn’t have a catastrophe beyond human imagination is because one of the reactor operators flooded the reactors with sea water going against the orders of his superior. So he actually went against the orders of a superior, flooded the reactor with seawater, destroyed the reactor as a consequence but managed save the reactors from breech of containment which would have been catastrophic.

CS:..I saw you on CNN saying that the people of the world have been lied to about what has been happening in Fukushima. What are your personal thoughts about that?

DMK: You know the Japanese people have been very trusting of their government up to a point. But they were lied to so many times, for so many people it’s the last straw. They’re buying Geiger counters...they’re buying radiation meters on their own. So they simply don’t trust the government anymore...

Radiation levels as you know are being picked up all over the city. Tokyo is 150 miles from the Fukushima site so radiation levels are low let’s be clear about that. However, radiation levels have been detected 200 miles away from the reactor site way past Tokyo...

I think it’s a national scandal the fact that the government is not supplying radiation counters for children in the area. The local governments are taking the initiative. On local government in the Fukushima area has bought toximeters for children as young as kindergarten age. Can you imagine a kindergarten child going to school with a radiation badge and having to be briefed by parents on what this radiation badge does?

So again, people are taking their own initiative. They don’t trust the government anymore. By the way, as the reactor accident took place back in March we physicists in the United States have our own computer codes and we were running simulations of the accident in the United States and we clearly realized that the government was either lying or deliberately withholding information or were simply incompetent concerning their press releases.

We knew there was significant core damage even when the government was saying there was almost no damage whatsoever. We knew how significant it was because of the radiation that came out of the reactor and with our own computers we could then show that the Japanese government and TEPCO were either deceiving the people or were simply incompetent. This information is now available and again it adds to the distrust of the people towards the government and towards TEPCO. The fact that they were lied to and the fact that people put their trust in the government and the utility only now, months later to find out they were exposed to large quantities radiation when it was totally unnecessary.

The latest scandal just a few days ago was the fact that as the accident was progressing the government was withholding data and not dispersing radiation counters especially in areas where the radiation was quite high. So the people were needlessly exposed to high levels of radiation in the opening hours of the accident.

CS: Do you compare or draw parallels between what happening in Fukushima to what happened between BP and the Gulf of Mexico disaster where the people of the United States and the people of the area were also purposely, or because of stupidity, not given the correct information?

DMK: Yes, and you can also make a parallel with Katrina and what happened there. Engineers who build these reactors who build these dykes and levees simply don’t believe that the hundred-year storm will take place in their lifetime. So at Katrina in New Orleans for example the engineers realized that their levees could not withstand a hundred year storm. But their attitude was, well it is a hundred year storm it’s not going to happen in their lifetime, it’s not going to happen in their grand kids lifetime so why worry about it. Then of course the hundred-year storm hit.

Same thing with the Fukushima reactor accident. Engineers clearly realized that giant tsunamis could overwhelm their facilities. But again, it’s not going to happen in their lifetime or their grand kids lifetime so why should they worry? So then of course there we have it. And of course of you prepare for the hundred year storm it’s very expensive and nuclear power would be economically unviable if people had to prepare for the hundred year earthquake, the hundred year storm, the hundred year disaster it would make nuclear power uneconomical if they had to meet those standards

Realize that we have five reactors in various stages of degradation in the area. The accident is not over my any means. The accident could start up all over again if there is a secondary earthquake or another pipe break. In a worse case scenario if there is a major pipe break or a second earthquake you would have to evacuate the workers. Because the pumps are not working at the site it means you have to manually insert the water over the reactors and without the workers it would be in free fall. At that point with an evacuation of all the workers water levels would begin to drop, the reactors would begin to melt again and we would have breech of containment. That is release of uncontrolled amounts of radiation into the environment and that is a catastrophe beyond comprehension.

Realize that at Chernobyl, 25 years ago, we only had one reactor and only 25 percent of the core vaporized and was sent into the air. Here we have three reactors with 100 percent core melt, various stages of melting through the containment structure and if it were to start again it could be much worse than Chernobyl, many times worse than Chernobyl.

Realize that even at Chernobyl it took 600 thousand workers. Let me repeat that number again, 600 thousand workers over a half a million workers to finally bring that reactor in to a semi state of stability. The accident at Chernobyl is not over by the way. The reactor continues to melt, the core continues to melt into the ground at Chernobyl but it took over a half million workers. Many workers only going in a few minutes at a time because of the high levels of radiation. Everyone got a badge and a metal from Gorbachev. But this is certainly no way to build a nuclear power plant.

In Japan we have 3 reactors in very bad shape and it’s not stable because the pumps are not working yet and it means that the accident could start up all over again.

CS: What is the solution Dr. Kaku?

DMK: Yeah, let me say that right now Unit 1 is being encased in plastic like saran wrap in order to at least contain some the radiation that continues to be emitted from Unit 1 because of a partial breech of containment. Now Hewlitt corporation has estimated that 10 years will be required for the clean up. Nobody believes that number because it took 25 years at Chernobyl and that accident is still not over. It took 14 years for Three Mile Island to be brought under control. The Hitachi corporation made an estimate of 30 years to finally clean up the 3 reactor accidents.

But privately in the United States many engineers are saying 50 to 100 years. 50 to 100 years to finally clean up these accidents. First they have to put a TV camera into the core to photograph the extent of the melting. Then you insert hacksaws to cut up the core into pieces. Then you have to extract each piece from the reactor. All of this done under water because it’s too radioactive to be exposed to the air. As you can imagine this will take decades to bring under control...

DMK:...maybe the United States can take a cue from what’s happening in Europe. The Germans have pretty much thrown in the towel after initially backing nuclear power. The government has decided now to phase out all nuclear power plants in Germany. Switzerland has decided to follow suit and follow the example of the Germans. Italy right now is teetering on the brink of following Germany’s example. And right now in the United States Barack Obama is going to have to decide what to do with the revival of nuclear power within the United States.

CS: Like in Japan, we need to revive our anti-nuclear power movement, which had a lot of success here in the United States, and I think this is a time when we can do it.

DMK: Also remember that Barack Obama has shut down the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste depository. This means at the present time there is no federal waste dump to put high-level nuclear waste from over 100 commercial reactors and also military reactors. So we are suffering from a case of nuclear constipation form nuclear waste that is backing up at every single nuclear site in the United States. And we’re storing it, storing it on site, which I think is a very dangerous procedure. This means that nuclear power cannot move forward until we have some resolution to the nuclear waste issue.

CS: What if your opinion about the Sun obviously has an unlimited potential to be harnessed then use that energy for our increasing power needs. What do you think is the viability of that technology?

DMK: As you mentioned, the Sun is going to shine for another five billion years till it finally uses up it’s hydrogen fuel and of course the Earth only uses a fraction of the sunlight that hits it from the Sun. Right now solar costs are still more expensive than fuel fossil costs. But fossil fuels are limited in quantity and quite erratic in price. Prices are rising while the cost of solar keeps dropping every year. At some point the two curves will cross and at the point renewable solar, hydrogen and wind technology will become just as competitive in the market place as nuclear.

Remember now to build a nuclear power plant takes at least 10 years. So this means you have to look at the economics not today, but the economics 10 years from now. And the economics 10 years from now for solar, hydro, geothermal, wind power is quite attractive. For example, people are buying up solar rights to the Sahara Desert now in order to build plants sometime on the future when prices go down for Europe. So some European investors are saying the even though today it’s not economical to solarize the Sahara Desert in the future it will be. And in the future they want to make sure they have the rights to capture sunlight in the Sahara Desert.

So I think that is what we are going to see. We are going to see markets forces kick in because people will realize 10 years from now solar power is extremely competitive with fossil fuel in all aspects and somebody’s going to make a lot of money because at that point renewable technology will be every bit as competitive as fossil fuels.

CS:... One of my heroes is Dr. Albert Einstein and I know you continue his work trying to find a unified theory. But Dr. Einstein also became increasingly a pacifist and he had a lot of pacifist rhetoric towards the end of his life and I’d like you to comment on that.

DMK: Well, I wrote a biography about Albert Einstein and, first of all, you have to realize when he was a teenager he was a draft resistor. Refused to be drafted into the Germany Army. So he was a man, even as a teenager, who put some of his political philosophy into play during World War 1. He was one of very few intellectuals to sign a manifesto against German entry into WWI. There were 100 German intellectuals who signed a manifesto for German entry--there were only three intellectuals including Einstein who signed the manifesto against WWI. During WWII he began to modify his position a bit and say that the German Army should be opposed, you simply can do nothing and allow this racist totalitarian entity to start to take over the world.

Then right after the bombing of Hiroshima he founded the first anti-nuclear organization. It was called the Emergency Committee of Atomic Scientists and it was the very first anti-nuclear organization formed right after the bombing of Hiroshima by Albert Einstein...

My favorite Einstein quotes is that “if a theory can not be explained to a child then the theory is probably useless." So all great theories, the theories of Newton, Einstein, all these great theories in principle can be explained to a child.

Hopefully in my I work I try to explain the excitement that we feel converging on this great theories that will one day answer these enormously important questions that even bedeviled Einstein. Is time travel possible? Are there other dimensions? Are there gateways to other universes? These are questions that Einstein actually wrote about and these are actually questions in principle that we can solve using string theory. So I think that we are in a great position now.

David McNeill: "Why the Fukushima disaster is worse than Chernobyl"

David McNeill's latest, "Why the Fukushima disaster is worse than Chernobyl", published at The Independent:

Slowly, steadily, and often well behind the curve, the government has worsened its prognosis of the disaster. Last Friday, scientists affiliated with the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency said the plant had released 15,000 terabecquerels of cancer-causing Cesium, equivalent to about 168 times the 1945 atomic bombing of Hiroshima, the event that ushered in the nuclear age. (Professor Busby says the release is at least 72,000 times worse than Hiroshima)...

Many parents have already sent their children to live with relatives or friends hundreds of kilometres away. Some want the government to evacuate the entire two million population of Fukushima Prefecture. "They're demanding the right to be able to evacuate," says anti-nuclear activist Aileen Mioko Smith, who works with the parents. "In other words, if they evacuate they want the government to support them."

So far, at least, the authorities say that is not necessary. The official line is that the accident at the plant is winding down and radiation levels outside of the exclusion zone and designated "hot spots" are safe.

But many experts warn that the crisis is just beginning. Professor Tim Mousseau, a biological scientist who has spent more than a decade researching the genetic impact of radiation around Chernobyl, says he worries that many people in Fukushima are "burying their heads in the sand." His Chernobyl research concluded that biodiversity and the numbers of insects and spiders had shrunk inside the irradiated zone, and the bird population showed evidence of genetic defects, including smaller brain sizes.

Hiroshima 2011 Citizens' Peace Declaration - 広島 2011 市民による平和宣言

Via Peace Philosophy Centre...The "Citizens Peace Declaration 2011," by a group of NGOs including The Article 9 Group Hiroshima and Peace Link Hiroshima/Kure/Iwakuni, who organize the annual 8/6 Hiroshima Gathering for Peace.

This year, 2,000 people gathered at the "die-in" demonstration at the A-bomb dome, followed by a protest walk to the headquarters of Chugoku Electric to oppose nuclear power and the plan to build a new nuclear power plant in Kaminoseki.

The 2011 Citizens’ Peace Declaration

August 6, 2011

In 1938, with the help of Lise Mitner, the German chemist Otto Hahn discovered the nuclear fission of uranium. Just seven years later, atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, indiscriminately killing many civilians in these two cities. This criminal act of mass killing with a tsunami of radio-active fire can only be described as “human madness.” Yet sadly more madness was to follow, as the nuclear powers of the world, particularly the U.S. and Russia, developed and produced further nuclear weapons. As a consequence, radioactive contamination rapidly became a serious global problem, due to uranium mining, production of nuclear weapons, and the nuclear tests conducted in various parts of the world.

In December 1953, at the U.N. General Assembly, the U.S. President, Dwight D. Eisenhower, unexpectedly launched the policy “Atoms for Peace,” a concept to promote “the peaceful use” of nuclear energy. The primary reason for launching this policy was an attempt by the U.S. Government to curtail the power of the Soviet Union, which had carried out its first hydrogen bomb test in August that year. “Atoms for Peace” was devised to persuade Western nations to accept plans by the U.S. government and American investments to produce nuclear fuel and technology. Japan was among the most important of the targeted nations. Indeed, it soon became subjugated to the U.S. in two crucial ways: it came under the U.S. nuclear umbrella as part of the military strategy that evolved; and nuclear fuel and technology became part of its energy policy. This has had profound ramifications. On the one hand, U.S. military bases located in Japan, particularly that in Okinawa, were extensively used for many wars that the U.S. engaged in, such as those in Korea, Vietnam, the Gulf and elsewhere. On the other hand, the building of nuclear power plants induced the structural corruption among collaborating politicians, bureaucrats and entrepreneurs, and caused severe environmental problems. As a consequence, the U.S. – Japan Security Treaty, based on the nuclear deterrence strategy, as well as the leak of radiation from nuclear power plants and accumulated nuclear waste have long been threatening the livelihoods and well-being of the Japanese people. Despite this, the Japanese government firmly established, and continues to maintain, a political system which permits little criticism of these two issues.

The Japanese government, together with the electric power companies and the nuclear industry, has for many years promoted the myth that nuclear power is clean and safe, covering up various accidents at nuclear power plants and related facilities. The danger manifested by major accidents such as those at Chernobyl and Three Mile Island have also been consistently ignored. The fatal accident at the Fukushima No.1 Nuclear Power Plant was not in fact an “accident” caused by a natural calamity, but rather a pending time bomb of “self destruction” which was destined to go off. Through its policies the Japanese government is now punishing its own people, as well as those in neighboring nations, with dangerous doses of radiation.

Despite the national crisis, however, not only Japanese cabinet members, but most Diet members, too, are now busy with their own power politics and are therefore totally incapable of dealing with the grave situation that confronts the victims of the earthquake and nuclear accident. As these politicians have neither the strong political commitment to protect civilians, nor any long-term vision on energy and environmental issues, the government countermeasures for this disaster have been less than effective, and there is political chaos. This state of confusion has provided an ideal environment for U.S. military forces to carry out training of their own special troops, specializing in radiation problems, as well as Marines, under the misleading name “Operation Tomodachi.” Every year Japanese taxpayers pay almost US$ 2.5 billion to maintain such U.S. troops in Japan.

Many A-bomb survivors from 1945 have died – often after a lifetime of suffering - or are still suffering from various diseases caused by the blast, fire or radiation. They live with the constant fear that they may suddenly be struck down by a fatal disease like cancer or leukemia. The use of nuclear weapons, which indiscriminately kill large numbers of people for decades afterwards, is clearly “a crime against humanity.” Yet the scale of damage to people and the environment that could be caused by a major accident at a nuclear power plant, where radiation is emitted either from the nuclear vessel or spent fuel rods, may be comparable. In this sense, a nuclear power accident could be seen as an “act of indiscriminate mass destruction” and so “an unintentionally committed crime against humanity.” The Japanese government is trying to cover up this event, adopting an inappropriate protection standard set by the ICRP (International Commission on Radiological Protection).

The wisdom of Hiroshima – that human beings and nuclear power, whether in the form of weapons or energy, cannot co-exist – must be reaffirmed and should be utilized to strengthen and expand our anti-nuclear and anti-war movements. We need to reflect on our hitherto narrow application of the expression “No More Hibakusha (victims of radiation)”, so that it covers not only A-Bomb survivors, but all victims of radiation, including those of nuclear power plant accidents. We need to consider the pain of all the victims of radiation and to think about drastically changing our society that so heavily relies on nuclear technology. Not only do we need to abolish nuclear weapons and nuclear power plants, but we must also devise ways to initiate a hitherto impossible, totally new, peaceful and environmentally harmonious society.

(Coordinator and Author: Yuki Tanaka)

Dr. Janette D. Sherman on Chernobyl, Fukushima, Nebraska nuke plants, babies, animals, trees, nuclear power, nuclear weapons, seven generations...

• Must-see 10-minute video report from Link TV, "Chernobyl: The Real Story" with Dr. Janette D. Sherman and Professor Alexey Yablokov.

• "Is the Dramatic Increase in Baby Deaths in the US a Result of Fukushima Fallout?" by Janette D. Sherman, MD & Joseph Magano:

Spewing from the Fukushima reactor are radioactive isotopes including those of iodine (I-131), strontium (Sr-90) and cesium (Cs-134 and Cs-137) all of which are taken up in food and water. Iodine is concentrated in the thyroid, Sr-90 in bones and teeth and Cs-134 and Cs-137 in soft tissues, including the heart. The unborn and babies are more vulnerable because the cells are rapidly dividing and the delivered dose is proportionally larger than that delivered to an adult.

Data from Chernobyl, which exploded 25 years ago, clearly shows increased numbers of sick and weak newborns and increased numbers of deaths in the unborn and newborns, especially soon after the meltdown. These occurred in Europe as well as the former Soviet Union. Similar findings are also seen in wildlife living in areas with increased radioactive fallout levels.

Janette D. Sherman, M. D. is a specialist in internal medicine and toxicology. She has recently completed the translation and editing of the book Chernobyl: Consequences of the Catastrophe for People and Nature, written by A. V. Yablokov, V. B. Nesterenko and A. V. Nesterenko, published by the New York Academy of Sciences in December 2009.

See more at Janettesherman.com.

Dahr Jamali: Full Meltdown: Fukushima Called the 'Biggest Industrial Catastrophe in the History of Mankind'"

"Full Meltdown: Fukushima Called the 'Biggest Industrial Catastrophe in the History of Mankind': Scientific experts believe Japan's nuclear disaster to be far worse than governments are revealing to the public by Dahr Jamali, Al Jazeera:

"Fukushima is the biggest industrial catastrophe in the history of mankind," Arnold Gundersen, a former nuclear industry senior vice president, told Al Jazeera...

"Fukushima has three nuclear reactors exposed and four fuel cores exposed," he said, "You probably have the equivalent of 20 nuclear reactor cores because of the fuel cores, and they are all in desperate need of being cooled, and there is no means to cool them effectively."

TEPCO has been spraying water on several of the reactors and fuel cores, but this has led to even greater problems, such as radiation being emitted into the air in steam and evaporated sea water - as well as generating hundreds of thousands of tons of highly radioactive sea water that has to be disposed of.

"The problem is how to keep it cool," says Gundersen. "They are pouring in water and the question is what are they going to do with the waste that comes out of that system, because it is going to contain plutonium and uranium. Where do you put the water?"

Japan's Nuclear Emergency Response Headquarters finally admitted earlier this month that reactors 1, 2, and 3 at the Fukushima plant experienced full meltdowns.

TEPCO announced that the accident probably released more radioactive material into the environment than Chernobyl, making it the worst nuclear accident on record.

Meanwhile, a nuclear waste advisor to the Japanese government reported that about 966 square kilometres near the power station - an area roughly 17 times the size of Manhattan - is now likely uninhabitable.According to Gundersen, the exposed reactors and fuel cores are continuing to release microns of caesium, strontium, and plutonium isotopes. These are referred to as "hot particles".

"We are discovering hot particles everywhere in Japan, even in Tokyo," he said. "Scientists are finding these everywhere. Over the last 90 days these hot particles have continued to fall and are being deposited in high concentrations. A lot of people are picking these up in car engine air filters."

Radioactive air filters from cars in Fukushima prefecture and Tokyo are now common, and Gundersen says his sources are finding radioactive air filters in the greater Seattle area of the US as well.

The hot particles on them can eventually lead to cancer.

"These get stuck in your lungs or GI tract, and they are a constant irritant," he explained, "One cigarette doesn't get you, but over time they do. These [hot particles] can cause cancer, but you can't measure them with a Geiger counter. Clearly people in Fukushima prefecture have breathed in a large amount of these particles. Clearly the upper West Coast of the US has people being affected. That area got hit pretty heavy in April..."

Dr Shoji Sawada is a theoretical particle physicist and Professor Emeritus at Nagoya University in Japan.

He is concerned about the types of nuclear plants in his country, and the fact that most of them are of US design.

"Most of the reactors in Japan were designed by US companies who did not care for the effects of earthquakes," Dr Sawada told Al Jazeera. "I think this problem applies to all nuclear power stations across Japan."

Using nuclear power to produce electricity in Japan is a product of the nuclear policy of the US, something Dr Sawada feels is also a large component of the problem.

"Most of the Japanese scientists at that time, the mid-1950s, considered that the technology of nuclear energy was under development or not established enough, and that it was too early to be put to practical use," he explained. "The Japan Scientists Council recommended the Japanese government not use this technology yet, but the government accepted to use enriched uranium to fuel nuclear power stations, and was thus subjected to US government policy..."

Gundersen pointed out that the units are still leaking radiation.

"They are still emitting radioactive gases and an enormous amount of radioactive liquid," he said. "It will be at least a year before it stops boiling, and until it stops boiling, it's going to be cranking out radioactive steam and liquids."

Gundersen worries about more earthquake aftershocks, as well as how to cool two of the units.

"Unit four is the most dangerous, it could topple," he said. "After the earthquake in Sumatra there was an 8.6 [aftershock] about 90 days later, so we are not out of the woods yet. And you're at a point where, if that happens, there is no science for this, no one has ever imagined having hot nuclear fuel lying outside the fuel pool. They've not figured out how to cool units three and four."

Gundersen's assessment of solving this crisis is grim.

"Units one through three have nuclear waste on the floor, the melted core, that has plutonium in it, and that has to be removed from the environment for hundreds of thousands of years," he said. "Somehow, robotically, they will have to go in there and manage to put it in a container and store it for infinity, and that technology doesn't exist. Nobody knows how to pick up the molten core from the floor, there is no solution available now for picking that up from the floor."

Read the rest of Jamali's article here.

The Asia-Pacific Journal: "What Price the Fukushima Meltdown? Comparing Chernobyl and Fukushima"

(A joint survey conducted by the Japanese and U.S. governments has produced a detailed map of ground surface radioactive contamination within an 80-kilometer radius of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.))

Tokyo Electric Power Company, TEPCO, has now acknowledged the early meltdown of at least three reactors in the first multiple meltdown in nuclear history. Matthew Penney and Mark Selden have organized and assessed the contentious literature comparing Chernobyl and Fukushima in their recent article, "What Price the Fukushima Meltdown? Comparing Chernobyl and Fukushima," published at The Asia-Pacific Journal and republished at Truthout and Znet.

Along with Greenpeace on Twitter (gpjen) and Fukushima Update, Kyoto-based Green Action's blog, The Asia-Pacific Journal has been the best source of comprehensive in-depth investigative English-language reporting and analysis of the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant failure, attempted cover-ups, and radiation risks. APJ editors and contributors recognized early on the seriousness of the accident and radiation risks The online journal has published some fifty articles on Japan's 3.11 earthquake/tsunami/nuclear power disaster in the last three months and several more must-read pieces are in the works.

Penney and Selden conclude that Fukushima radiation exposure to school children is at the center of the debate; challenging the Japanese government's failure to "respond effectively to critics of policies that pose long-term risks to the nation’s children."

For updates, consider subscribing to APJ's free Weekly Newsletter announcing new articles, and visiting them on Facebook and Twitter.

87 Japanese NGOs call for nuclear-free society on 25th anniversary of Chernobyl accident

From Japan Today:

TOKYO — A group of 87 nongovernmental organizations in Japan reiterated calls to achieve "a nuclear-free society" on Tuesday, the 25th anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, at a time when a nuclear crisis is continuing in Japan at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant.

"We will launch a large national action" seeking the permanent closure of the Fukushima Daiichi and neighboring Daini plants, cancellations of the nuclear fuel recycle program and new reactor construction plans as well as shutdowns of aging reactors, the NGOs said in their joint statement.

"As a first step we are issuing this joint statement today, 25 years after the Chernobyl accident," it noted. "And we will propose a process for achieving a steady phase out of nuclear energy" so the earth will not be further subjected to radioactive contamination and radiation exposure.

On the state of the Fukushima plant, the statement said the reactors there "have not achieved cold shut down. The situation continues to be unpredictable."

The No. 4 reactor of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant exploded on April 26, 1986, becoming the world’s worst nuclear accident.

A list of the signatory NGOs is included following the Japanese version of this statement at the website of the Citizens' Nuclear Information Center.

For a gripping photojournalist account of post-disaster Chernobyl, see the Kid of Speed website, which documents the 2004 motorcycle journey of a Ukranian woman who simply calls herself Elena as she travels through the abandoned town and records what she sees and feels.

Thich Nhat Hanh's and Joanna Macy's thoughts for Japan, humanity, & all beings

Via Jizo Chronicles, Thich Nhat Hanh's and Joanna Macy's thoughts for Japan after the great earthquake and tsunami:

Dear Friends in Japan,

As we contemplate the great number of people who have died in this tragedy, we may feel very strongly that we ourselves, in some part or manner, also have died.

The pain of one part of humankind is the pain of the whole of humankind. And the human species and the planet Earth are one body. What happens to one part of the body happens to the whole body.

An event such as this reminds us of the impermanent nature of our lives. It helps us remember that what’s most important is to love each other, to be there for each other, and to treasure each moment we have that we are alive. This is the best that we can do for those who have died: we can live in such a way that they continue, beautifully, in us.

Here in France and at our practice centers all over the world, our bothers and sisters will continue to chant for you, sending you the energy of peace, healing and protection. Our prayers are with you.

Thich Nhat Hanh

Nuclear-free activist Joanna Macy who spent time with the people  of Novozybkyov, a village about 100 miles from Chernobyl, in 1992, addresses the nuclear disaster in Fukushima:

Dear Ones,

In this hour of anguish we reach out to our Japanese colleagues and all beings of that noble and stricken land.  As our hearts unite in prayer for them, we experience our own non-separation from the immeasurable suffering inflicted by the successive earthquakes and tsunamis, and by the nuclear catastrophe these have triggered.

Having just begun the last week of my three-month retreat, I break silence to give voice to my solidarity with you all.  By speaking to you, I remind myself of what we can remember in this time of grief and fear.

It helps me to remember what I learned in Novozybkov with survivors of Chernobyl: that is that there are two basic responses to massive collective trauma.  One response is to let it destroy our trust in life and in each other, plummeting us into division, blame and despair.  The other is to let the shared cataclysm strengthen us into greater solidarity, and deepen our knowledge of our mutual belonging in the web of life. Your communications are evidence already of that second response.  Indeed the Work That Reconnects has been preparing us for it.

We remember to breathe.  As we have practiced, we breathe through the reports as we hear and the images of disaster. This helps us simply take in what is happening, and not be blocked by horror or the desire to fix or flee.

We also breathe with those who are caught up in this tragedy, in the intensity of panic, shock, and loss. Feel how this breathing-with helps your heart-mind fearlessly and tenderly embrace them.

You see, if we understand and accept the Great Unraveling, we can let it break us open to greater realizations of our innate solidarity.  That this realization in itself is a kind of “enlightenment” has been brought home to me in my retreat by two great teachers of Japan.

One is the 13th century Zen master Dogen.  He illumines our connections with the ancestors and the future ones, so that we can experience these connections in the immediate present moment.  So does the other figure, the archetypal bodhisattva Ksitigarbha, who is beloved in Japan, where he/she is known as Bodhisattva Jizo, with images everywhere.  Both of them help us realize that we are not alone in this moment of time, but surrounded by past and future generations ready to help.  We who inhabit the present can do what they cannot: that is to make choices and take action/  But the past and future ones are right at our side with support and guidance.

Also, to hold steady and open in this anguished time, try the Spiral of the Work That Reconnects. As I take in the catastrophe in Japan, the Spiral serves to ground my heart-mind, and widen its dimensions.  It brings gratitude for all those at work to bring support and clear reporting.  It helps me honor the heartbreak, to simply open to it and let it reveals our true nature and mutual belonging. It shows me how solidarity can move us forward, and offer us practical, immediate steps to alleviate suffering and enact safe, sustainable, and sane energy policies. An obvious urgency is to stop US government subsidies and loan guarantees to nuclear industries, including bills that are before Congress now.

As radiation from Fukushima spreads, I know that protection of self and family is on our minds.  I’m asking Anne to append here two kinds of information: about health measures, and some links to breaking news from Japan. See our page dedicated to this issue: http://joannamacy.net/nuclearguardianship/fukushima-dai-ichi-2011.html

Love,

Joanna

Tokyo extends evacuation zone; raises nuclear emergency to Chernobyl-level

Greenpeace:

Just hours after our field radiation team held a press conference calling for further evacuation around Fukushima, the Japanese government announced that it will extend the mandatory evacuation zone around the stricken nuclear plant to 30km and evacuate the contaminated towns of Namie, Iitate and parts of Minamisoma within one month.

Reuters:

Japan raised the severity of its nuclear crisis to the highest level on Tuesday, putting it on a par with the world's worst nuclear disaster at Chernobyl in 1986 because of the amount of radiation released into the air and sea.

As another major aftershock rattled the earthquake-ravaged east of the country, a fire broke out at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant, although engineers later appeared to have extinguished the blaze. Developments in recent days suggest the operator of the stricken facility is no closer to restoring cooling systems at the reactors, which is critical to bringing down the temperature of overheated nuclear fuel rods.

An official at Japan's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA) said that based on cumulative levels of radiation released, the severity of the incident had been raised to 7, the worst on an internationally recognized scale...The month-long nuclear crisis that has gripped Japan following an earthquake and tsunami has claimed up to 28,000 lives and the estimated cost stands at $300 billion, making it the world's most expensive disaster.

Japan's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA) said the amount of radiation released into the atmosphere from the plant, 240 km (150 miles) north of Tokyo, was around 10 percent that of Chernobyl. However, plant operator Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO) warned the release could eventually exceed Chernobyl if leaks were not halted. "Radiation released into the atmosphere peaked from March 15 to 16. Radiation is still being released, but the amount now has fallen considerably," said Hidehiko Nishiyama, NISA's deputy director-general.

Green Action: Petition to Support Japanese People, Expand Evacuation Zone

On March 28, 2011, more than 168 citizens organizations in Japan submitted a petition to the Kan administration calling for an expanded evacuation zone near the Fukushima nuclear disaster site and other urgent measures to protect public health and safety.

The official evacuation zone remains only 20 kilometers (12 miles) and the government has encouraged people within only 30 kilometers (18.6 miles) to evacuate. Yet levels of cesium-137 in the village of Iitate, for example, have been measured at more than twice the levels that prompted the former USSR to evacuate people near Chernobyl. Iitate is 40 kilometers (24 miles) northwest of Fukushima. The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission recommended a 50-mile evacuation zone for U.S. citizens in Japan.

The people of Japan are now asking for international support for their petition. Please sign by going to the Green Action site here: http://fukushima.greenaction-japan.org/petition/

IEER: "Seven major sources of radioactivity still pose a considerable threat to people in Japan."

The Asia Pacific Journal's “Long Since Passed the Level of Three Mile Island – The Fukushima Crisis in Comparative Perspective" spotlights The Institute for Energy and Environmental Research (IEER) head Arjun Makhijani's March 25, 2011 analysis of Fukushima radiation emissions:

"Whatever the ultimate estimates, it is clear that the Fukushima accident is far beyond the U.S. Three Mile accident in 1979 in every respect, and much closer to the more terrible Chernobyl accident.

Fortunately, much of the radioactivity has been blown over the Pacific Ocean and by the time it reached North America the plumes were very dilute. They were even more dilute by the time they reached Europe.

Unfortunately, much of the radioactivity ahs also affected food and water in Japan. Sadly, the accident is not over and the situation is not yet under control. Seven major sources of radioactivity still pose a considerable threat to people in Japan. That is a completely unprecedented situation. I deeply appreciate the struggle of the workers to contain this terrible accident, for they have been able to prevent an even worse situation from developing."

TEPCO, the Japanese government, and other organizations have been getting more open with data, but many important documents are not being translated quickly and there is little effort to bring the findings together in an easily understood way. See here for TEPCO’s analysis of the radioactive water in the No. 3 reactor building. Satoko Norimatsu has provided English translations of the compounds being measured...

Here (in Japanese) is Japanese government (Nuclear Safety Commission) simulation data that estimates that some areas have already reached the threshold of internal radiation exposure at which iodine tablets become necessary to reduce cancer risk.

Reuters: Japanese engineers considering "Chernobyl Option" as last resort

Today Reuters reported that Japanese engineers are considering the "Chernobyl Option" as a last resort. This option, suggested by Japanese American physicist Michio Kaku, would involve burying the nuclear facility in sand and concrete to prevent a catastrophic radiation release:

This is what the Soviets did in 1986, calling out the Red Air Force and sandbagging the reactor with over 5,000 tons of concrete and sand.

Reuters: Chernobyl clean-up expert condemns nuclear industry & Int. Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) for inadequate response at Fukushima

On Tuesday, Reuters reported that Russian nuclear accident specialist Iouli Andreev blamed a greedy nuclear industry and its influence over the United Nations' International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) for intentionally ignoring lessons from Chernobyl:

"After Chernobyl all the force of the nuclear industry was directed to hide this event, for not creating damage to their reputation. The Chernobyl experience was not studied properly because who has money for studying? Only industry.

"But industry doesn't like it," he said in an interview in Vienna where the former director of the Soviet Spetsatom clean-up agency now teaches and advises on nuclear safety. Austria's environment ministry has used him as an adviser.

Andreev said a fire which released radiation on Tuesday involving spent fuel rods stored close to reactors at Fukushima looked like an example of putting profit before safety:

"The Japanese were very greedy and they used every square inch of the space. But when you have a dense placing of spent fuel in the basin you have a high possibility of fire if the water is removed from the basin," Andreev said.

The IAEA should share blame for standards, he said, arguing it was too close to corporations building and running plants. And he dismissed an emergency incident team set up by the Vienna-based agency as "only a think-tank not a working force".

Physicist Michio Kaku now blogging on Fukushima; advises PM Kan to take the "Chernobyl Option"

Japanese American physicist Michio Kaku (author of Physics of the Future, expert on string theory, parallel universes) foresaw the meltdowns at the nuclear power facility in Fukushima. Now he is advising PM Kan to take the "Chernobyl Option."

The situation in Japan, as of Tuesday morning, keeps getting worse. We are getting close to the point of no return (the point where we have uncontrolled releases of radiation due to breach of containment).

News and Developments

•3 reactors have suffered partial meltdowns.

•These three reactors also suffered hydrogen gas explosions

•A fourth unit has a nuclear waste storage site on fire (which can in principle release more radiation than in a standard reactor core).

•Almost all workers, except for 50, have been evacuated. Once all the workers are evacuated, full scale melting is inevitable.

•Unit 2 actually had 100% of its core fully exposed, for about 2 hours. Worse, cracks seem to have formed in the containment vessel, which may be the source of the very high radiation levels.

•Unit 3 uses MOX fuel, which contains some deadly plutonium, one of the most dangerous substances on earth.The utility keeps saying that things are stable, only to see things worsen. This "stability" is the stability of hanging by your fingernails.

If I had the ear of the Prime Minister, I would recommend the "Chernobyl Option."

•Put the Japanese Air Force on alert

•Assemble a huge fleet of helicopters. Put shielding underneath them.

•Accumulate enough sand, boric acid, and concrete to smother these reactors, to entomb them forever. This is what the Soviets did in 1986, calling out the Red Air Force and sandbagging the reactor with over 5,000 tons of concrete and sand.

We have not yet hit the point of no return. But when we do, I think the only option left is this one.

Nuclear Industry Status Report 2009: The renaissance of nuclear energy is much exaggerated (with the possible exception of Monju)

News from nuclear energy analyst Mycle Schneider at the The Right Livelihood (Alternative Nobel) Award website:

"The renaissance of nuclear energy, much trumpeted by its supporters, is not taking place. The only thing frequently revived is the announcement.”

It is with these words that the German Minister for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Reactor Safety released the World Nuclear Industry Status Report 2009, a project directed by Mycle Schneider (RLA 1997).

The study provides the facts and figures of nuclear power around the world that fly in the face of the stunning international nuclear revival propaganda.

435 units operate in the world, that is 9 less than in 2002. For the first time in nuclear history not a single new nuclear unit in the world has been connected to the grid for over two years. One quarter of the units officially under construction have been listed there for over 20 years and over one half has had repeated delays. The economic costs have sky-rocketed rather than gone down as in the case of other energy industries.

The site has a link to the full report.

Schneider won the 1997 Right Livelihood Award jointly with the late Takagi Jinzaburo, who invited Schneider to the 1991 International Conference on Plutonium in Omiya. The two saw similarities in France's and Japan's treatment of nuclear power; they began work together on the issues of waste and plutonium shipments between the two countries:

With Japan and France hosting the two remaining large-scale interests in plutonium use, and MOX (uranium-plutonium mixed oxide fuel) being the only use for plutonium outside fast breeder reactors (FBRs), Schneider started work with Takagi on a two-year intensive international research project on 'A Comprehensive Social Impact Assessment of MOX in Light Water Reactors', which was realeased in November 1997. In December 1997, France shut down its Superphénix FBR. In Japan, after several accidents and scandals, public confidence in the industry decreased dramatically.

Takagi, a nuclear chemist, created the Tokyo-based non-profit Citizen's Nuclear Information Center (CNIC) after working for several years working in the nuclear industry. Directing CNIC until his death in 2000, Takagi reported findings in CNIC publications including SNIC Monthly in Japanese and the bimonthly Nuke Info Tokyo in English. He was a pioneer in peace ecology––perceiving the intersections between environmental, human rights, and peace issues. He spearheaded international cooperation between NGOs addressing nuclear energy and worked to out the truth about the extent of Chernobyl's radiation-caused cancers:

Takagi and CNIC concentrated since 1988 on the Japanese plutonium programme. Takagi organised the International Conference on Plutonium (1991), the Asia-Pacific Forum on Sea Shipments of Japanese Plutonium (1992) and the Aomori International Symposium on Japanese Plutonium (1994) and produced the proposal for a Moratorium on Japan's Plutonium Utilisation Programme. These activities contributed to the recent scale-down of Japan's plutonium programme. Takagi also helped other Asian NGOs to obtain correct scientific information on the risks and environmental implications of nuclear energy.

Following the IAEA 1991 report that claimed "radiation from the Chernobyl accident had almost no effect on the local population", Takagi produced a paper estimating that 100,000-200,000 extra cancers in former USSR countries are a result of this accident. To follow up, CNIC was co-organiser, with the Belarus Academy of Sciences and a number of Japanese scientists, of the 1994 Belarus-Japan Symposium 'Acute and Late Consequences of Nuclear Catastrophes: Hiroshima, Nagasaki and Chernobyl'.

In 1995, media turned to Takagi and the CNIC as a reliable source of information after a nuclear accident at a prototype fast-breeder reactor at Monju in western Japan where authorities attempted a cover-up.

Local residents filed a lawsuit against the government: asking for the nullification of the original permission to build the reactor at Monju. In 2003, they prevailed at the level of Kanazawa branch of the Nagoya High court (the first Japanese public victory in a lawsuit concerning a nuclear reactor). The court reasoned the safety screening of a government agency before the reactor's construction was inadequate. However, in 2005, the Japanese Supreme Court reversed this ruling. Despite continued local resident opposition, the Japanese government wants to reopen the Monju experimental breeder reactor in 2010.

The worst nuclear (criticality) accident in Japan took place in 1999 at the Tokai waste disposal facility, followed by another attempted cover-up, and then a MITI-imposed moratorium on fast-breeder development. Public confidence in nuclear energy plummeted as costs of reprocessing escalated--putting the brakes on nuclear energy development in Japan. The Tokai nuclear power plant remains decommissioned and is scheduled to be dismantled.

In March 2009, the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa power station (the world's biggest) was shut down by fire (its eighth) since closure almost two years ago by an earthquake.

Pluthermal generation at Tomari nuclear power plant in Hokkaido is under testing now and faces local citizen opposition from the "Know Pluthermal" Shiribeshi Citizens' Network.

-- Jean Downey

Japanese Groups working for a Nuclear-Free World

Iwashima Island residents are not the only Japanese citizens opposing the construction of a new nuclear power plant in their area. Elsewhere Japanese citizens have formed a number of grassroots groups opposing existing and proposed nuclear power plants. The Citizens' Nuclear Information Center (CNIC) profiles the following:

They include:

 • "Know Pluthermal" Shiribeshi Citizens' Network (Hokkaido)

• the National Network Against Nuclear Energy (formed in March 1978)

• The Committee to Consider Pluthermal and Saga's Next 100 Years (although Genkai-3 in Hokkaido is scheduled to become the first nuclear power plant in Japan to implement pluthermal, many people are continuing to raise concerns about issues of safety, economics, and whether pluthermal is necessary in the first place)

• Kariwa Women for the Protection of Life

• Anti-Nuclear Kagoshima Network

• Daichi Stop Nuclear Power Committee ("Nuclear energy is incompatible with organic agriculture)

• Stop Rokkasho Japan (initiated by musician Ryuichi Sakamoto)

• No to Radioactive Waste! Committee for a Prefectural Ordinance

• KO-OK Productions: film-makers who say, "Radiation is not OK"

• Phase-Out Nuclear Energy Downtown Network

• Kansai Relief for Chernobyl Hibakusha: linking Hiroshima, Nagasaki and Chernobyl to create a world without nuclear victims

• The Shizuoka Network of Citizens Opposed to the Hamaoka Nuclear Power Plant (focuses on the question of whether the Hamaoka NPP is capable of withstanding the widely predicted Tokai Earthquake

• The Iwate Committee to Protect the Sanriku Sea from Radiation (concerned about ocean pollution from radioactive liquid waste from the Rokkasho Reprocessing Plant)

• The Chernobyl Children's Fund

•  Acorn Forestry Club (doing business while opposing nuclear power in a nuclear town)

• Nagano Soft Energy Resource Center (a meeting place for people thinking about and taking action on energy and environment issues)

• The Association for the Preservation of Nagashima's Nature