nuclear-news

A year after Fukushima disaster, and Japanese are growing even more opposed to nuclear power

“It is clear from surveys that the majority of the people think that we can survive this summer by conserving energy and transferring electricity among regions,”

Japanese more opposed to nuclear power a year after the tsunami, LA Times, 5 June 12, As Japanese authorities this week ponder whether to resume producing nuclear energy, a poll shows that opposition to nuclear power is strong and growing more than a year after the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear catastrophe that killed 20,000 and contaminated a broad swath of farmland.

Seventy percent of Japanese surveyed by the Washington-based Pew Research Center said they wanted nuclear power reduced or eliminated, while a year ago the nation was nearly evenly divided on the subject, with 44% urging a phaseout and 46% backing continued generation.

The telephone survey of 700 households also found broad
dissatisfaction with how the Tokyo government and energy industry
officials handled the aftermath of the March 2011 disaster. The poll
found 80% of respondents critical of the government, and 78% said they
were dissatisfied with the direction in which the country was headed.
On the economy, 93% said it was in bad shape.

As the crisis swept through Japan last year, officials issued
conflicting assessments of the amount of radiation released at the
Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant after three tsunami-damaged
reactors suffered meltdowns, and wide discrepancies continue to
undermine public confidence in the reports of government and industry
investigations.

The Tokyo Electric Power Co. recently estimated the amount of
radioactive material released at Fukushima to be as much as 80% more
than what the government’s Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency
reported. It took authorities more than nine months to seal off the
radioactive leakage, and to acknowledge that it had penetrated the
food supply and left a 12-mile zone around the stricken plant off
limits……. Nearly one-third of Japan’s lawmakers have petitioned
against resuming nuclear energy production, bowing to public concerns
that environmental and safety precautions need further improvement.
Satoshi Arai, a former national strategy minister, presented a
petition to Noda on Monday urging that energy authorities “be all the
more cautious about a decision to restart the reactors.”

“It is clear from surveys that the majority of the people think that we can survive this summer by conserving energy and transferring electricity among regions,” the petition states…..
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/world_now/2012/06/japan-nuclear-fears-growing.html

June 6, 2012 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Japan, opposition to nuclear