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Japanese waking up to the false economics of nuclear power

Radiation leaking from the damaged power plants has laid bare national policies and economic choices that have long gone unquestioned in Japan. “Please imagine!” one man told a priest. “A rural town, where there were no jobs, no money and no industries, was able to receive a chunk of money suddenly just by welcoming the construction of nuclear power plants.”

The conferees pledged “to pray for and with the people of Fukushima and other communities suffering the harms caused by nuclear power” and to send the conference’s final statement to next year’s WCC Assembly in Busan, Republic of Korea.

Nuclear tragedy finds a human face in Fukushima,  Insights, ON 19 DEC 2012 BY STEPHENW  “……..Christian and Buddhist clergy, as well as laypersons, told the 87 conferees from Asia, Europe and North America of their struggle to support families and communities, to cope with the disaster themselves and to challenge the official disaster response.
Conference participants resolved to initiate discussions in faith communities about “civilian and military uses of nuclear energy”, and to develop plans of action “including lifestyle changes”.
The conference began in the city of Koriyama, 100 kilometres from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant and well beyond the official disaster exclusion zones. Radiation hotspots there—created when a reactor building exploded and contamination was spread by prevailing winds—are as dangerous as areas in the town nearest to the nuclear plant.

Radiation leaking from the damaged power plants has laid bare national policies and economic choices that have long gone unquestioned in Japan. “Please imagine!” one man told a priest. “A rural town, where there were no jobs, no money and no industries, was able to receive a chunk of money suddenly just by welcoming the construction of nuclear power plants.”
Fukushima’s fate puts a human face on the actual risks and consequences of nuclear energy use in Japan, and anywhere, the conference showed.
“We Japanese committed a serious sin against our Creator and our children’s future,” said Terumi Kataoka, a parishioner who directs the parish radiation center in Aizu Wakamatsu. “We do not have the luxury of a reprieve any longer.”
Kataoka fled early in the disaster to a safer part of Japan but later returned. She said, “We realised that we couldn’t be selfish and couldn’t close this church. We had to stay and help others who were escaping the disaster, too.”
“We are all here to help build a nuclear-free world together,” she told the conference.
The conferees pledged “to pray for and with the people of Fukushima and other communities suffering the harms caused by nuclear power” and to send the conference’s final statement to next year’s WCC Assembly in Busan, Republic of Korea.
Jonathan Frerichs is WCC program executive for peace building and disarmament. He is a member of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.

December 22, 2012 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Japan, Religion and ethics