A message to all people in the world concerned about the fate of the people of Fukushima

The war in Ukraine reminded us in 2022 of the danger of using nuclear weapons, and the real threat of our nuclear power plants if they ever become military targets, turning them into mega-atomic bombs.

However, the Kishida government has committed itself, from August 2022, to nuclear revival with the construction of new reactors, as well as the restart of existing reactors and the extension of their operating periods. This has been included in the “Green Transformation” policy decided by the Council of Ministers on February 10th, 2023. Faced with such a forced choice, after a very short online consultation, and even before the end of a “public debate” limited to only ten cities, we feel an even stronger anger towards the government than before.

The crippled plant is still facing various problems and is far from being safely dismantled. In seven municipalities of Fukushima, there are still so-called “difficult to return to” zones –areas where people are not allowed to stay, and several tens of thousands of refugees cannot return to their homes. Barely twelve years after the accident, the government has abandoned the principles that emerged from the reflections and lessons of the disaster: reducing dependence on nuclear power generation, limiting the operation of a reactor to forty years, and separating the nuclear regulator from the entity that promotes it.

Yes, it is reasonable to publicly express our concern after the stupidity of such a choice which leads straight to the risk of a new accident. That is why we must, once again, oppose this decision with all our might.

The status of the trials is also worrying. The Supreme Court’s verdict for four civil cases in June 2022 absolved the Japanese state of legal responsibility for the accident, overturning the three appeal rulings that had recognized such responsibility.

In the criminal trial against the former TEPCO executives, the appeal judgement of January 2023 confirmed their acquittal, on the grounds of “insufficient evidence”. However, the court had refused to hear important witnesses and even to visit the accident site for verification.

As for the lawsuit filed by the Fukushima authorities to dislodge the refugees from the housing they had been granted, the court condemned the latter without taking into account the international right to housing.

In all cases, the examination of evidence and witnesses remains insufficient, making these judgements unacceptable to the victims. This is why the plaintiffs in the criminal trial have decided to appeal to the Supreme Court. For our part, we will continue to argue and request additional hearings. But these unfair judgements may be related to the move towards a nuclear revival.

As for Fukushima, there is another serious issue, since the discharge of radioactive water from the plant into the sea will begin in several months. And this is expected to last for several decades. In December 2022, we organized an international forum with citizens from the Pacific Ocean who condemned this discharge of contaminated water into the marine environment as an unacceptable violation of the human rights of the people living on the Pacific Ocean and a serious threat to the life of aquatic organisms.

This has also led to protests from countries such as South Korea and China. The crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant has already released a huge amount of radioactive substances. But on top of that, the government and TEPCO will knowingly dump more contaminated water into the world’s oceans from Fukushima.

This hurts us, which is why we want this operation to be stopped at all costs. On April 13th, one year to the day after the decision to release the radioactive water into the sea, the people of Fukushima are calling for a worldwide protest action. Let us hope that this international solidarity action will be a success.

In spite of increasingly troubled times, let us continue to work with all our strength and perseverance for a bright future for coming generations.

March 2023 in Fukushima

Ruiko Muto

Chair of the Complainants for the Criminal Prosecution of the Fukushima Nuclear Disaster

http://hidanren.blogspot.com

http://kokuso-fukusimagenpatu.blogspot.com/p/blog-page_5112.html

 

(Translated from Japanese by Nos Voisins Lointains 3.11)

 

For the translation in other languages, please visit:

https://yosomono-net.jimdofree.com/english/

Kazaguruma-Demo for the 12th Anniversary of FUKUSHIMA: No more radiating danger – neither from nuclear power plants nor from nuclear bombs

Kazaguruma-Demo for the 12th Anniversary of FUKUSHIMA: No more radiating danger – neither from nuclear power plants nor from nuclear bombs

 

Start at 12pm on Saturday, 11th March 2023
Meeting point: Brandenburger Tor (Parizer Platz), Berlin

 

Who would have thought that the German nuclear phase-out would be postponed shortly before the complete shutdown of the remaining reactors, of all things by the government in which the Greens are involved! Suddenly, the mood is being created everywhere as if the continued operation of nuclear power plants were the solution to the energy crisis. Yet nuclear power France in particular – where more than half of the nuclear power plants recently shut down – clearly shows that nuclear energy cannot be relied upon. Strangely enough, the debate tends to forget the safety risks posed by nuclear power plants and why the decision was made to phase out nuclear power in Germany after the Fukushima nuclear accident.

 

All three German nuclear power plants are to be now running in stretch-out operation mode until mid-April 2023. While proponents claim that nuclear energy would make them energy-independent, they like to ignore the fact that EU states process uranium from Russia for the fuel rods. The nuclear lobby has managed to get the nuclear sector spared from EU sanctions.
The Russian attack on Ukraine has made it abundantly clear that the nuclear threat was always highly topical. Many people who previously professed disarmament suddenly emphasize the importance of nuclear sharing, of deterrence.

 

The Ukraine war also made it clear: nuclear power plants become targets in wars. The largest nuclear power plant in Europe, Zaporizhzhya, was repeatedly under attack and is often powered by emergency diesel generators. Should the power supply be interrupted, there is a risk of a new accident like in Fukushima.
Chain reactions and radioactive rays know no boundaries between friends and foes. They also make no difference whether the same technology is used for military or civilian purposes. The only safe and climate-just solution is to develop green energy as quickly and consistently as possible throughout the world.

 

Therefore, we demand together:
– No further nuclear power plant lifetime extensions in Germany
– a worldwide phase-out of irresponsible nuclear energy
– immediate decommissioning of the nuclear plants in Lingen and Gronau
– no classification of nuclear energy as sustainable energy production/deletion of nuclear from the EU taxonomy
– Cancel EURATOM treaty
– No discharge of radioactive water into the sea, whether in Fukushima or elsewhere!

 

Kazaguruma Demo 2022 – The 11th anniversary of FUKUSHIMA Nuclear power will NOT save our climate!

Kazaguruma Demo 2022 – The 11th anniversary of FUKUSHIMA
-Nuclear power will NOT save our climate!

Start at 12pm on Saturday, 5th March 2022
Meeting point: Brandenburger Tor (Parizer Platz), Berlin

We are very concerned. Despite the recent decision to replace nuclear and coal-fired energy with renewable energy, more than a few member states of the EU are claiming that nuclear power serves as a measure against climate change.

Over 10 EU governments have announced that they will expand their nuclear energy. The new Japanese government has also announced its intention to promote the development and construction of small nuclear power plants (SMR). These are unacceptable developments.

We cannot turn a blind eye to the daily radioactive contamination caused by the normal operation of nuclear power plants. The problem of the final disposal of vast amounts of radioactive waste also remains. This is still an unsolved problem, not only in Germany but anywhere in the world. Such claims that nuclear power does not harm the environment must not be accepted. A single accident at a nuclear power plant causes irreparable, unimaginable damage to the environment, animals, and people. We should have learned that from Chernobyl and Fukushima.

Last April, 10 years after the accident of Fukushima Daiichi, the Japanese government approved a plan to discharge radioactively contaminated water stored since the accident into the Pacific Ocean. This water, which the operating company Tepco claims to have purified of all radioactive elements still contains primarily tritium and contaminates the environment. The water has not yet been discharged due to strong opposition from residents and fishermen, as well as the international community.

We demand the end to nuclear energy. We want to build a nuclear-free future: Nuclear power will NOT save our climate.

Together we demand:

・Global end to irresponsible nuclear energy
・Immediate shutdown of nuclear facilities at Lingen and Gronau
・No classification of nuclear power as sustainable energy production
・Cancelation of the EURATOM treaty
・No discharge of radioactive water into the ocean

Cooperating groups
AK Rote Beete (Linke Regionalgruppe)
BUND Jugend Berlin
Coop AntiWar Cafe
Fridays for Future Berlin
IPPNW Germany
Japanese Against Nuclear UK
Korea Verband
Greenpeace Berlin

Flyer:Kazaguruma-Demo-2022-flyer_final

 

 

 

10th Anniversary of FUKUSHIMA – Nuclear Power Is Not A Climate Saver!

Kazaguruma Demo
 - 10th Anniversary of FUKUSHIMA

 Start at 12pm on Saturday, 6th March 2021 
 Meeting point: Brandenburger Tor (Parizer Platz), Berlin

10 years after Fukushima, but nothing has changed. We need no more nuclear power!

11th March 2021 will mark the 10th anniversary of the Fukushima nuclear disaster. No matter how hard the Japanese Government and IAEA try to patch up and underestimate the worst disaster, the facts tell us the real story: The affected homeland will never be the same again. Hundreds of thousands of people are still unable to return to their homes. The damaged nuclear power plant continues to diffuse radiation throughout the environment. The Japanese Government is even thinking about dumping the radioactive water into the ocean as the Fukushima nuclear power plant is, apparently, running out of space for storage.

The situation is far from being “under control”. Fukushima still faces great of danger.  However, apart from the reality, pro-nuclear lobbyists promote this dangerous dark nuclear business advocating that climate neutrality cannot be reached without nuclear energy. Quite a number of countries still rely on nuclear power generation. In some countries, there are even plans to build more new nuclear power plants or to extend the lifetime of aged nuclear power plants.

This is ridiculously wrong. We must stand up and fix it! Not only that, nuclear power is never an option to solve climate change, but also is the catastrophic threat to humanity. It’s been 10 years after the Fukushima nuclear disaster but our further efforts are required to push the clean energy revolution forward. Our economy should be free from the power by nuclear and fossil fuels and shift to 100% renewable energy. We will not let the nuclear waste be produced any longer!

Nuclear power is a false solution to climate change!

Far from climate neutrality: Nuclear energy is like an endless chain – uranium mining, generating electricity, reprocessing spent nuclear fuels and final disposal. When you look at the whole process, nuclear energy is a large emitter of CO2.

Contamination threat: Nuclear industries leave hazardous radioactive waste behind almost permanently and they will continue to be the great threat to humanity and to the environment.

Too dangerous:  Nuclear energy always goes hand in hand with risk of serious accidents as we witnessed in Fukushima. Long term impacts to humans and to the environment are unavoidable once an accident has occurred. Nuclear technology also increases the ability of nations to manufacture nuclear weapons.

Madly expensive: Nuclear energy is eventually the most expensive way to generate electricity. It cannot survive without pouring governmental funds.

We are therefore calling for:

  • Operations of all nuclear power plants in the world should be stopped, especially in Germany, Gronau uranium enrichment plant and Lingen nuclear fuel plant.
  • EURATOM and other institutions that promote nuclear technology should be dissolved.
  • Sufficient subsidies should be allocated to the research efforts for renewable energy and radioactive waste management made by the independent civil society organizations.
  • Germany and Japan should sign the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.

Kazaguruma-Demo-Fryer_2021

Kazaguruma-Demo-Poster_PDF_2021

Websitehttp://kazagurumademo.de

Organizer
Anti Atom Berlin
NaturFreunde Berlin
Greenpeace Energy      
Sayonara Nukes Berlin

Cooperating groups:
AK Rote Beete
Anti-Atom-Plenum Berlin
BUND für Umwelt und Naturschutz Deutschland
BürgerBegehren Klimaschutz
BürgerInitiative Lüchow-Dannenberg
Coop AntiWar Cafe
Die Linke Landesverband Berlin
Friedensglockengesellschaft Berlin e.V.
IPPNW Germany
Japanese Against Nuclear
Kuhle Wampe
Robin Wood Berlin

                               
           

“#NoNukeDump” Call to Photo Posting Action

“#NoNukeDump” Call to Photo Posting Action

Tepco and the Japanese government  have been considering dumping of contaminated water into the ocean for quite some time, under the pretext that there will soon be no more place capacity for new tanks at the site of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant.  The Japanese government is going to make the final decision on it by the end of November 2020, without having discussed enough about alternative methods for filtering or storage of contaminated water.

This „contaminated water“ in question is nothing but liquid radioactive waste, which was in contact with meltdown debris. Even after treatment through Advanced Liquid Processing System (ALPS) facilities, various radioactive nuclides are included in this water. It is thus fundamentally different from the tritiated water that is released from operational nuclear plants. For further information please refer to: https://storage.googleapis.com/planet4-japan-stateless/2020/10/5768c541-the-reality-of-the-fukushima-radioactive-water-crisis_en_summary.pdf

We are firmly speaking out against dumping the radioactive water into the ocean.

The oceans are an important part of our biosphere which belongs to all of us. Once it gets contaminated, the damage will remain irreversible. We should never allow it to happen! This is why we, Sayonara Nukes Berlin, would like to start a photo posting action through social network. Please join us and share your voice!

Call-to-action_NoNukeDump_EN_PDF

 

Photo Posting Steps
<Step 1> Preparing your poster

Choose one of the attached posters with the slogan „Don’t dump radioactive water into the ocean!“ and print it out. On the masters ③and④ you can add your own message or illustrations.   

①#NoNukeDump
②#NoNukeDump
③#NoNukeDump
④#NoNukeDump           
<Step 2> Take your photo

Hold your protesting message in your hands and have your photograph taken wherever you like.
<Step 3> Posting in social media

Post your photo with the hashtag 

“#NoNukeDump” 
“#(your country or city) "
in social media 
(no blank space after #)



It would be great if we could get together in this action and make it a bigger movement. If you don’t have any SNS-account or if you are not sure about the posting procedure, please send us your photo to our email address with information on your place of residence.

We would appreciate it if you would translate this text into another language, so that this call could be shared with as many people as possible. We would only like you to KEEP the text on the posters UNCHANGED, so that our collective action remains consistent. Thank you!

Send your photo to: Sayonara-nukes-berlin(at)posteo.net

SNS-Accounts of Sayonara Nukes Berlin:

Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/sayonara.nukes.berlin
Twitter:https://twitter.com/NoNukesBerlin
Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/sayonaranukesberlin
Photo album

Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.3560774300624816&type=3

Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/sayonaranukesberlin/

Twitter:
https://twitter.com/NoNukesBerlin/status/1326512277374328832?s=20

 

NEWS:Kazaguruma Demo – 9th Anniversary of FUKUSHIMA

Start at 12pm on Saturday, 7th March 2020 
Meeting point: Brandenburger Tor (Parizer Platz), Berlin

FUKUSHIMA is NOT “Under Control”!

11th March 2020 marks the 9th anniversary of the Fukushima nuclear disaster.

Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics is approaching. Some Olympic games are planned to be held in Fukushima although the current situation is far from to be said “under control”: The damaged nuclear reactors continue to diffuse radiation throughout the atmosphere, the contaminated water is leaking into the ocean every day, hundreds of thousands of people lost their homes and the foundation for life and those affected people still have to deal with the long-term hardship and pain. The government of Japan has been misusing the Olympic games to display to the world that the nuclear disaster is over. They underestimate the real damage and impact of the worst nuclear disaster in the history and make us believe that the situation has been back to normal. Instead of putting the priority to provide relief to those who continue to suffer from the disaster, the government of Japan is rather promoting evacuees to return to their hometown which is still heavily contaminated. They just raised the acceptable level of radiation for residents by 20 times higher than what was applied as the maximum level of annual exposure before the accident occurred. We must say NO to this policy!

Nuclear power is NOT a solution to climate change!

High risk of contamination: Nuclear reactors produce harmful radiation almost permanently.
Too dangerous: As we have learned through the disasters of Fukushima and Chernobyl, serious accidents are unavoidable. Technology of nuclear energy also serves increasing the ability to develop nuclear weapons.
Enormous cost: Nuclear energy is eventually the most expensive way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Unjustified theory: The theory that the supply chain of nuclear fuels has a lower CO2 emission is unjustified.
Inflexible to control: Nuclear power generation is not flexible to control comparing to renewable energy.
Too slow to save climate: Climate change give us no time to wait until the new generation develops a “harmless nuclear power”. (This does not necessarily mean to agree with the new generation nuclear technology.)

We are therefore calling for:

・Misuse of the Olympics should be stopped to display as if the contaminated area in Fukushima had been cleared and restored.
・The government of Japan should withdraw the relocation policy to put evacuees back to the highly contaminated area and should resume to provide compensation and financial assistance.
・Operations of all nuclear power plants in the world should be stopped, especially in Germany, Gronau uranium enrichment plant and Lingen nuclear fuel plant.
・ EURATOM and other institutions that promote nuclear technology should be dissolved.
・Investment for nuclear technology should come to an end. Instead, sufficient subsidies should be allocated to the research efforts for renewable energy and radioactive waste management made by the independent civil society organizations.
・Signature and ratification of Nuclear Weapon Ban Treaty by all countries.

Veranstalter:
主催:
Anti Atom Berlin (www.antiatomberlin.de)
Greenpeace Energy (www.greenpeace-energy.de)
NaturFreunde Berlin (www.naturfreunde-berlin.de)
Sayonara Nukes Berlin (www.sayonara-nukes-berlin.org)

Kooperierende Gruppen:
共催:
AK Rote Beete (www.ak-rotebeete.de/)
Anti-Atom-Plenum Berlin (aap-berlin.squat.net)
BÜNDNIS 90/DIE GRÜNEN (www.gruene.de)
Coop AntiWar Cafe (www.coopcafeberlin.de)
Die Linke Landesverband Berlin (www.dielinke.berlin/nc/start)
Friedensglockengesellschaft Berlin e.V. (www.weltfriedensglocke-berlin.de)
ICAN Deutschland (www.icanw.de)
Interkulturelles Haus in Schöneberg (www.ikhberlin.de)
IPPNW Germany (www.ippnw.de)
Kuhle Wampe (www.kuhle-wampe.de/kuhle-wampe-berlin)

NEWS: Call for the Demonstration on 8th Anniversary of Fukushima on March 9th 2019

Fukushima warns: Nuclear phaseout worldwide!
Call for the Demonstration on 8th Anniversary of Fukushima on March 9th 2019

Sa. 09.03.2019  12:00 Uhr
Brandenburger Tor, Pariser Platz, 10117 Berlin

A series of one of most severe nuclear accidents worldwide followed a strong earthquake and tsuhami on 11 March 2011. The Fukushima Nuclear Accident shows clearly that even highly industrialized countries cannot ensure safe nuclear plants. Nuclear disasters like this could recur at anytime, as long as nuclear plants are being operated.

Worldwide 446 reactors in nuclear power plants were still operating in 2018. Every reactor produces 20 to 30 tons of highly radioactive nuclear waste per year. And no operational final storage facilities are there to host the waste long term.

No consistent nuclear phaseout has been resolved in Germany. 7 nuclear power plants are still operating in Germany. Influential economic lobbies are calling for extending their life. At the same time three research reactor and the uranium enrichment facility Gronau and the fuel elements factory Lingen are completely excluded from the so-called nuclear phaseout.

Until 2022 15,000 tons of highly radioactive nuclear waste will be accordingly piled up in Germany. Approximately 8000 generations of human beings have been alive and less than three generations have created the giant amount of atomic waste, which has to be kept away from the biosphere for 33,000 generations.

The nuclear lobby is misusing the concern over climate change in order to represent their irresponsible business as a “climate saving” strategy. Nevertheless plenty of CO2 is produced throughout the nuclear chain beginning from uranium mining to generation of nuclear power for electricity and weapons up to “storing” of nuclear waste, not to mention that the reducing of CO2 and nuclear risks cannot be set off against one another. This is why it is important to recall: Only the rapid shift to renewable energies and consequent energy saving could mitigate climate change.

The nuclear technology threatens to make our planet Earth uninhabitable in several ways:
-Constructing nuclear weapons and other radiological dispersal devices,
-Polluting radioactive emissions from nuclear facilities in “normal operation”,
-Increasing the risks of nuclear meltdown like in Chernobyl and in Fukushima, which could happen again,
-and finally by unforeseeable leakage of nuclear waste.

We therefore call for:
• Immediate shutdown of all nuclear facilities worldwide.
• Annulling of EURATOM and all the other organizations promoting the nuclear technology.
• Redeployment of all nuclear technology promoting grants and subsidies in favor of renewable energy and researches on dealing with nuclear waste controlled by civil society.
• Worldwide ban of all kinds of nuclear weapons. Germany and Japan must accede to the „Treaty for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons“ of the United Nations.

Website:
http://kazagurumademo.de

Facebook Eventpage:
https://www.facebook.com/events/2327156154275022/

Veranstalter:
Sayonara Nukes Berlin sayonara-nukes-berlin.org
Anti Atom Berlin www.antiatomberlin.de
NaturFreunde Berlin www.naturfreunde-berlin.de
Greenpeace Energy www.greenpeace-energy.de

Kooperierende Gruppen:
BUND
IPPNW
Rote Beete
ICAN
Coop AntiWar Cafe
Kuhle Wampe
BürgerInitiative Lüchow-Dannenberg
Friedensglockengesellschaft Berlin e.V.
Ausländer mit uns
Die Linke Landesverband Berlin

Message for the 7th anniversary of Fukushima Nuclear Accident (2018) from Ruiko Muto, Head of the Group of Plaintiffs against Tepco and Spokesperson of the Group Women of Fukushima

Ruiko Muto                Member of Fukushima Women Against Nuclear Power Chair of the Complainants for the Criminal Prosecution of the Fukushima Nuclear Disaster

To all whosethoughts are with Fukushima

It’s been seven years since the Fukushima Nuclear Disaster on 11th of March 2011. I would like to wholeheartedly say thank you to all the Fukushima supporters.

These days in Fukushima, we often hear such words as “repatriation,” “reconstruction,” and “health creation.” With the Tokyo Olympic Games 2020 approaching, a huge investment has been made to redevelop disaster-struck areas. Research centres for decommissioning technology and for robotics, wind farms, mega solar parks, as well as biomass generators are being build in severely devastated coastal areas as a part of “Innovation Coast Project.” Futaba Town, one of the most heavily contaminated areas located in the immediate vicinity of Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, plans to host an archive centre to record damage inflicted by the disaster, and an industrial centre in an attempt to attract study trips from high schools. Fukushima Prefecture is soon reopening the whole length of a major motorway on the eastern coast, trying to repatriate all the Fukushima evacuees.

On the other hand, however, there are a string of human rights violations on a huge scale. The current repatriation scheme does not mean that you can return to a thoroughly decontaminated, safe area. Instead, it means that you have to live with the contamination as long as the dose is claimed to be under 20 millisieverts a year. This threshold is 20 times higher than the allowable dose for citizens everywhere in the world before the disaster. There are no publicly funded recuperative support plans for the repatriated children. Financial compensations and housing subsidies are cut even if you decide not to return. There are people who have no choice but to return to the still-contaminated area for financial reasons. Some are resigned to become homeless and others have felt so devastated that they have taken their own lives. Some evacuee families have been sued  for eviction from their shelters. In the UN Human Rights Council, four member states have recommended corrective actions over the human rights situation in Japan.

The situation within the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant also remains highly critical. There are now over 800 tanks, each of which contains 1000 tons of tritium-contaminated water. The current and previous chairmen of the Nuclear Regulation Authority have insisted that pouring the tritium-contaminated water into the ocean is the only solution, and they are attempting to gain consent from local authorities. For me, this is the first ocean I saw in my life as a four-year old girl. I can still picture the scenery in my mind. It was one of the three greatest fishing places in the world, with rich marine life. The ocean connects many places all over the world. Now that Fukushima Nuclear Disaster has already caused massive radioactive contamination of the ocean, I don’t wish to exacerbate it by letting the contaminated water in the tanks flow in, further contaminating the ocean. It is unbearable for me that the government is indeed trying to promote such an action despite the fact that they should  be trying to stop it. The local fishing industry is desperately trying to prevent the release of tritium-contaminated water into the ocean. I have to ask you all over the world to raise your voice with them.

The number of people in Fukushima Prefecture having thyroid cancer, or having large cysts that indicate possible thyroid cancer, has risen to 193. The Oversight Committee for Fukushima Health Management Survey continues to insist that it is “unlikely” that the Fukushima Nuclear Disaster caused the surge in the number. What is worse, it turned out last year that there were unreported thyroid cancer cases. People who were deemed “in need of follow-up observation” at the first screening and then individually received thyroid cancer diagnosis before going through the next screening, did not appear in the statistics. Faced with criticism from some committee members and citizens, Fukushima Medical University has decided to look into the matter. The investigation, however, is supposed to take as long as two years. Despite the fact that this survey is the only one that examines the health conditions of Fukushima victims, not even a correct result has been provided. There are also people trying to diminish the scope of the health survey, using phrases like “overdiagnosis,” “a health survey in school violates human rights,” or “people have rights not to know.” I think Fukushima Prefecture, which refused to even distribute iodine at the beginning of the nuclear accident, has a responsibility to continue carrying out the thyroid cancer survey.

Two years ago I was surprised to learn that high school students visited Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant to observe decommissioning works. Now Fukushima University has also started to provide students with opportunities to visit the plant as a part of their curriculum. With the aim of developing robots that can be used for decommissioning work, technology students from all over Japan are encouraged to join robotics competitions in Fukushima. Commutan Fukushima, a facility in my town built for the purpose of radiation education, helps children learn through visual aids and games. There have been 100 thousand visitors during the year since its opening. There I had an opportunity to read messages left by visitors. Many children wrote “I was scared of radioactivity, but I am glad to be reassured that it exists in the natural environment and foods, ”  or “if everyone learns here, Fukushima will no longer be discriminated.” As such, the aim of the facility seems far from educating the children how to acknowledge and protect themselves from the danger of radioactive substances that still surround us.

Meanwhile, various lawsuits are going on in order for the victims to be properly compensated, to correct administrative procedures, or to demand criminal convictions for those responsible for the disaster. In a civil case, the court decided that Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) and the Japanese government neglected necessary precautionary measures against Tsunami. More judgments are expected this year. Hearings of the case brought by 14 thousand complainants for the criminal prosecution of TEPCO executives finally started last June. Although the three former top executives of TEPCO pleaded not guilty, prosecutors started the legal procedure with ample documents and facts to prove TEPCO’s negligence over the risk of Tsunami. I would like everyone to keep an eye on the proceedings. We are collecting signatures to petition for a truly fair trial. We have an English version of the petition form ready on our website: http://kokuso-fukusimagenpatu.blogspot.co.uk/p/please-sign-petition.html

This winter was very cold in Fukushima, too. Under the icy ground, however, plant seeds are waiting to sprout in the spring. Let’s not forget to dream about a new era, while living this moment with sincerity. Let’s keep our solidarity, just like oceans unite the world.

March 2018


(Translated by JAN UK)

3月11日に思う。

March 11th.

My thoughts and prayers go to those who had lost their lives, who had lost loved ones and who had lost their homes by the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear power plant disaster in Japan.

This year will mark the anniversary of the Fukushima nuclear disaster and the 30th anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster. Do you remember the horrific pictures of the explosion at Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant? Trillions of becquerels of radiation have been diffused and contaminated water has been running into the Pacific Ocean. The government doesn’t know yet what to do with increasing radioactive waste and countless bags of decontamination waste are stored in eastern Japan.

Approximately 80,000 people still live in temporary housing as their homes remain uninhabitable due to radioactive contamination. Chernobyl proved that long-term exposure to even very low levels of radiation can cause health damage. In Germany eight reactors are still in operation and the recent accidents of Belgium’s aging nuclear plants worry neighboring countries. After Fukushima, Europe is now again faced with danger.

There is no official accusation of TEPCO, who is responsible for the accident. Without learning its lesson from the Fukushima disaster, the Japanese government is eager to restart nuclear power plants and has just restarted four reactors. Many of the Fukushima evacuees will have to choose to return home as the government will lift the evacuation order in 2017. This also means the government will no longer have to pay compensation to evacuees. Instead of securing continuous fair support for the evacuees, Japan is going to pour 1.8 trillion Yen (15 billion euros) into the Tokyo 2020 Olympic games. Not only that, Japan is selling nuclear technology to India, Turkey, and Vietnam and the major Japanese manufacturers of nuclear power plants are trying to make profits outside of Japan, together with European companies.

 

A voice from Fukushima (Interviewed Feb. 2016)

I fled from my home and am currently living 80km away from the nuclear power plant. We are facing a huge dilemma –  we will soon be forced to move out from our temporary housing. Due to political decisions we are being forced to return home, but I’m very concerned about radioactive exposure and I’m worried about whether we can earn enough money to live on. 

It makes me angry when I hear politicians discussing sending us back home. I think they are taking radiation issues too lightly! They decontaminated the residential areas and the government announced the lifting of the evacuation order because they said that the level of radiation has gone down. But do you think anyone wants to live in a place surrounded by bags of radioactive decontamination waste?

When Tokyo was selected for the 2020 Olympic games and Japan was full of excitement about that news, I felt that something was terribly wrong. I felt that the suffering and the pain of those who were affected was totally ignored and I felt hurt by the TV coverage that acted as though the nuclear accident never happened. I try not to think about the Olympics and I don’t want to watch the news because I believe it is manipulated.

 

We forget easily what we can’t see. But the invisible radiation continues threatening our planet and lives. Leaving a negative legacy of unsolved nuclear waste for future generations is no longer ethically permitted. Nuclear energy and human beings cannot co-exist as Chernobyl and Fukushima testified. The energy transition in Germany is not enough to solve global issues. Until all nuclear reactors are decommissioned and uranium mining is stopped worldwide, we will be faced with danger. If you feel that nuclear energy isn’t necessary, say it out loud! Every one of us is a part of political decision-making. You might think your voice won’t be heard, but all our voices together can make a difference.

Please join us at Kazaguruma Demo on 19th March in Berlin –  “Fukushima and Chernobyl urge Nuclear Phase-Out Worldwide!”

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Learn more : 100 Good Reasons against nuclear power     http://100-gute-gruende.de/index.xhtml

 

ソーラーハウス (Effizienzhaus) 見学

At February 1st, 2016, some of us visit to a solar house in Berlin, Fasanenstrasse. The minister of Environment, nature protection, construction, and reactor safety (Bundesministerium für Umwelt, Naturschutz, Bau und Reaktorsicherheit) built the house as an experiment of energy efficient house. The name of project is “Effizienzhaus Plus mit Elektromobilität.” This means efficient house plus with electric mobility.

They built 35 experimental houses in Germany. Each house has own outlook designed by different architect. The house in Berlin is shown in the picture. It has a modern cubic shape. But of course there are houses that outlook is a classic German house, too.

Berlin にある Effizienzhaus Plus
Effizienzhaus Plus in Berlin
Effizienzhaus Plus
An explanation session in a Effizienzhaus Plus

The house is called an efficient house however also “plus” is in a name. The goal of this house is to show “generating more energy than consuming it through a year.” This includes the energy of one electric car. In the experiment process, a few public offered families live in each house for a year. Two families lived in this house so far.

The house generates energy by solar panels and store it in the batteries. The architect puts the panels on the west and east side walls and the top of the house. It would be more efficient if the panel is at the south wall, however, a typical family consumes energy in the morning, the afternoon, and at night, but not in the noon time. If they use energy directly, it is more efficient. The south side has a large glass window to get the sun light. The architect made outside looking more important than the panels efficiency, so he has chosen a specific color panels but lower energy efficiency (10 to 15%).

Heating is the largest energy consuming component of typical house in Germany. Therefore most of the effort of saving energy is related with heating. In this house, the triple layer glass is used for the window. The ventilation system uses a heat exchange mechanism. The heating uses a heat-pump system. Efficient LED lights are used for the illumination. The wall is made of low thermal conductivity materials, yet the material is recycle friendly. All the house system is adapted to use electric energy, then the house doesn’t have other external dependency for energy.

Triple glass window panes with low heat transfer
Triple glass window panes with low heat transfer

The result of the first year did not generate all the energy they consumed. The house could only generate the energy consumed in the house, but not for the car. But this is an experiment. The researcher monitored the energy consumption details in the house and found the two unexpected behavior. One is the low efficiency of heat transfer system. It didn’t work as in the specification from the provided company. Thus, they exchange the device. The second problem was the energy consumption of the living room. This room was connected to the staircase and the heated air just ran away from this connection. So the architect put a glass door. The result of the second year (with the second family) was successful. The house generated the energy more than the family consumed including a car electricity. The architect thought that the motion sensor was good for saving energy for lights, but the first family had a cat. and they found out this was not so efficient.

It’s interesting for me that this house just lack of “one door” despite all the high technology for saving energy. The experience is useful. Another interesting issue in the report was about the mindset of the family. The family realized they don’t need to save energy, since the house generate it. So their mind set becomes a bit more extravagance about energy. I understand this, but is it a good for society at the end? I am not sure. This could be a question for the next experience. The architect prefers the fixed window, which you cannot open them, for the energy saving point of view. But, the family reported it is important to be able to open the window manually. It is also important for a house not only for the energy, but the house is the big place where the life is going on. So the house keeps the window that you can open them manually. All these results are published as following (online).

The following is my personal memo.

My first glance of this house was, “I don’t want to live in this house. It looks like a Borg cube!” But this is based on a specific architect and he has also limitation in design. The original plan was for three years experiment for this house and the architect can only use some limited technology. There are 35 different designs of the Effizienzhaus Plus. I found some houses attractive. But I like the inside design of this house.

My impression is that the technology is matured. This house was built at 2012. At that time, the German technology of this area was

Energy generation instead of energy saving

I first said about the design. This means that it is already not the technical issue even in my mind. I felt the design was important. I felt that the technology is matured. I recall when the five color iMac showed up in 1999. For me, the most important factor of a computer is performance, memory, and functionality. I thought “iMac? Power PC 750, 266MHz, sounds nice, but isn’t the main memory too small?” However, some of my friends told about iMac, “Which color did you buy?” I was shocked. Why color? Later I looked back that time, the computer becomes commodity. The design is very important if you put it in a house instead of an office. I understand when something became common in your life, the design matters.

The same as this house, the architect chose a specific solar panes color, and he has chosen a low efficiency panel (10-15% efficiency). He had chosen the design over the efficiency, yet to aim the primary goal. For the next generation solar panels, I think they need more colors. I already heard about such research for solar panels. The technology will create the solar panels of any colors, then we will not notice that is a solar panel one day. The design will be more important than the energy efficiency. If a house with green solar panels, you could not distinguish the house and the garden from the distance.

Other natural energy generators would go to such direction. For instance, a wind turbine would look not a wind turbine. One direction would be windmills in Netherlands, that made the scenery itself. Or a wind turbine looks like a tree. There is an vertical axis wind turbines. Maybe we could make a turbine that resembles a tree which fits in a forest. The wind turbine area becomes a park mixed the silent turbines and real trees. This is one direction of this technology. One day, we have a power plats that is a natural park. I imagine that kind of the future and I see it is good.

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