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Japan has protested often about the bombs the US dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. But Japan harmed itself far more with nuclear radiation by their inexcusable neglect that led to the three Fukushima reactor meltdowns. These meltdowns put as much radiation into the air as 168 Hiroshima bombs. Even worse this was not done to survive a war, but simply for short term profit.
I used to be for nuclear energy. But since I have seen the greed of mankind cause compromises to be made, I support the shutting down of most nuclear plants, and maybe all of them. - Lou Newton
From Fairewinds Energy Education:
Nuclear News:
The Japanese government has reported estimates to the IAEA [International Atomic Energy Agency]. According to those estimated levels, reactors 1, 2, and 3 had been in operation on March 11, 2011, and all three suffered meltdowns. Those three reactors released 1.5x1016 Becquerels of Cs-137, which would make it a release of 168 times more radioactive material than the Hiroshima bombing. And this is only material released into the atmosphere-at least according to Japanese government estimates.
But I myself think the government's numbers are an underestimate.
-Prof. Koide Hiroaki, The Asia Pacific Journal: Japan Focus
Prof. Koide Hiroaki, who has spent his entire career as a nuclear engineer working towards the abolition of nuclear power plants, says that active involvement in anti-nuclear movements earned him “an honorable form of purgatory as a permanent assistant professor at Kyoto University", according to a recent Asia Pacific Journal Article.
Educated and employed throughout his career as a nuclear engineer, the recently retired, Prof. Hiroaki continues to write and act as an important voice for a nuclear free future. He has authored twenty books on the subject of nuclear energy and weapons.
In an interview with Prof. Katsuya Hirano, Associate Professor of History at UCLA, Hiroaki shares his nuclear expertise, and strong criticism of the Japanese government and nuclear industry’s cover-up of widespread radiation, within Japan and worldwide, from the atomic meltdowns at Fukushima Daiichi. This interview is the second installment of Professor Hirano’s oral history project on Fukushima in The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus. [Link to 1st in the series]
Immediately after the accident public announcements and information were restricted. As a result individual opinions or statements were strictly forbidden and nearly all experts remained silent, so even basic information was not broadcast. Though I'd made statements from the nuclear lab beginning on the 12th, it is likely there were instructions from the Ministry of Science and Education to silence me. The head of the lab convened several meetings where he told each of us not to make any statement, that the lab would toe the official line when dealing with the mass media. I thought this was wrong and said that anyone who was asked a question by the media should answer it, further saying that if I were asked a question, I had a responsibility to answer. Since then I've continued to make statements in the media. Still the large majority of nuclear researchers were not able to do this.
As a result it was the pronuclear researchers who monopolized the interpretations - exactly. So as they went to the TV studios I think each was told: "Today, it's your turn to go to the studio." I think that's how they played their part and handled the media. [Emphasis Added]
Prof. Koide Hiroaki embodies Fairewinds’ mission of ‘speaking truth to power’ as he reveals the pressure from authority to keep silent immediately following the meltdowns at Fukushima Daiichi. Unafraid to share the true extent of the immediate radiation release from the triple meltdowns, Prof. Hiroaki speaks openly about the continuous exposure from Fukushima Daiichi that constantly threatens public health.
For people like me who get paid to work with radiation, it's not really possible to observe the 1mSv/yr limit [1mSv/yr]. We're told that in exchange for our salaries, we accept exposure to twenty milliSieverts a year. That's the standard I work under in my job. But the current Japanese government has now stated that if contamination is under 20mSv/yr somewhere, that place is safe to return to―safe to return to even for children. This is way beyond common sense. [Emphasis Added]
Fairewinds Energy Education · 70 S Winooski Ave, 289, Burlington, VT 05401, United States
I used to be for nuclear energy. But since I have seen the greed of mankind cause compromises to be made, I support the shutting down of most nuclear plants, and maybe all of them. - Lou Newton
From Fairewinds Energy Education:
Nuclear News:
The Japanese government has reported estimates to the IAEA [International Atomic Energy Agency]. According to those estimated levels, reactors 1, 2, and 3 had been in operation on March 11, 2011, and all three suffered meltdowns. Those three reactors released 1.5x1016 Becquerels of Cs-137, which would make it a release of 168 times more radioactive material than the Hiroshima bombing. And this is only material released into the atmosphere-at least according to Japanese government estimates.
But I myself think the government's numbers are an underestimate.
-Prof. Koide Hiroaki, The Asia Pacific Journal: Japan Focus
Prof. Koide Hiroaki, who has spent his entire career as a nuclear engineer working towards the abolition of nuclear power plants, says that active involvement in anti-nuclear movements earned him “an honorable form of purgatory as a permanent assistant professor at Kyoto University", according to a recent Asia Pacific Journal Article.
Educated and employed throughout his career as a nuclear engineer, the recently retired, Prof. Hiroaki continues to write and act as an important voice for a nuclear free future. He has authored twenty books on the subject of nuclear energy and weapons.
In an interview with Prof. Katsuya Hirano, Associate Professor of History at UCLA, Hiroaki shares his nuclear expertise, and strong criticism of the Japanese government and nuclear industry’s cover-up of widespread radiation, within Japan and worldwide, from the atomic meltdowns at Fukushima Daiichi. This interview is the second installment of Professor Hirano’s oral history project on Fukushima in The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus. [Link to 1st in the series]
Immediately after the accident public announcements and information were restricted. As a result individual opinions or statements were strictly forbidden and nearly all experts remained silent, so even basic information was not broadcast. Though I'd made statements from the nuclear lab beginning on the 12th, it is likely there were instructions from the Ministry of Science and Education to silence me. The head of the lab convened several meetings where he told each of us not to make any statement, that the lab would toe the official line when dealing with the mass media. I thought this was wrong and said that anyone who was asked a question by the media should answer it, further saying that if I were asked a question, I had a responsibility to answer. Since then I've continued to make statements in the media. Still the large majority of nuclear researchers were not able to do this.
As a result it was the pronuclear researchers who monopolized the interpretations - exactly. So as they went to the TV studios I think each was told: "Today, it's your turn to go to the studio." I think that's how they played their part and handled the media. [Emphasis Added]
Prof. Koide Hiroaki embodies Fairewinds’ mission of ‘speaking truth to power’ as he reveals the pressure from authority to keep silent immediately following the meltdowns at Fukushima Daiichi. Unafraid to share the true extent of the immediate radiation release from the triple meltdowns, Prof. Hiroaki speaks openly about the continuous exposure from Fukushima Daiichi that constantly threatens public health.
For people like me who get paid to work with radiation, it's not really possible to observe the 1mSv/yr limit [1mSv/yr]. We're told that in exchange for our salaries, we accept exposure to twenty milliSieverts a year. That's the standard I work under in my job. But the current Japanese government has now stated that if contamination is under 20mSv/yr somewhere, that place is safe to return to―safe to return to even for children. This is way beyond common sense. [Emphasis Added]
Fairewinds Energy Education · 70 S Winooski Ave, 289, Burlington, VT 05401, United States
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