On 7 May I wrote under the title "And Then There Was None", to congratulate ourselves on the emerging possibility of having no nuclear reactors any more in the country. This was, and is a hope that a great many of my countrymen and women do share.
The government, however, does not look at it in the same way. On the contrary they have decided to reactivate two reactors, Nos.3 and 4 at the Ooi nuclear plant, Fukui Prefecture, which are under periodical checking at present. The decision was taken on 16 June.
Anticipating this, as many as 11,000 people gathered at the Prime Minister's Office to protest in the previous evening. They said that nothing has changed after Fukushima to make it possible to reactivate them, many people are still unable to come home there, no authentic report has been out to establish the cause of the disaster, and it is not at all clear how the residents at Ooi and nearby can escape once a similar earthquake with or without an accompanying tsunami assault the area.
A Buddhist monk was saying that, after 16,000 dead and 3,000 missing by the earthquake, tsunami and the nuclear disaster last year, we are still mourning, and it is too early to take any action of this sort.
Interestingly the local residents are not necessarily in sympathy with the protest. At a poll 64% say they support the government decision. This is apparently because they are in the pay of the power company running the reactors, or beneficiaries of the municipal revenue from the increased company tax. But even then 52% of the 64% have expressed anxiety.
The government says that in our hot and humid summer, which is just round the corner, there will be a shortage of 15% as we have to depend heavily on the air-conditioning. But they do not disclose how many hours a day on the average this maximum shortage continues. Moreover the reactivation is for an indefinite period, not just for the summer.
And this is when a large number of us are trying to find ways and means of how to live with a limited supply of energy, and to find an alternative way for an industrial society to exist. The government is apparently taking the side of the monopolistic power industry.
As most of the other reactors in the country, Fukushima included, the Ooi reactors are also facing the sea, not on the Pacific, but the other side. We call it the Japan Sea, but the Koreans have named it the East Sea. The photographs show the reactors standing quite defenselessly and right on the coast.
The German and the Swiss peoples have sufficiently learned from the Fukushima and have decided to close down all their nuclear plants in due course. Are we not destined to do so?
The government, however, does not look at it in the same way. On the contrary they have decided to reactivate two reactors, Nos.3 and 4 at the Ooi nuclear plant, Fukui Prefecture, which are under periodical checking at present. The decision was taken on 16 June.
Anticipating this, as many as 11,000 people gathered at the Prime Minister's Office to protest in the previous evening. They said that nothing has changed after Fukushima to make it possible to reactivate them, many people are still unable to come home there, no authentic report has been out to establish the cause of the disaster, and it is not at all clear how the residents at Ooi and nearby can escape once a similar earthquake with or without an accompanying tsunami assault the area.
A Buddhist monk was saying that, after 16,000 dead and 3,000 missing by the earthquake, tsunami and the nuclear disaster last year, we are still mourning, and it is too early to take any action of this sort.
Interestingly the local residents are not necessarily in sympathy with the protest. At a poll 64% say they support the government decision. This is apparently because they are in the pay of the power company running the reactors, or beneficiaries of the municipal revenue from the increased company tax. But even then 52% of the 64% have expressed anxiety.
The government says that in our hot and humid summer, which is just round the corner, there will be a shortage of 15% as we have to depend heavily on the air-conditioning. But they do not disclose how many hours a day on the average this maximum shortage continues. Moreover the reactivation is for an indefinite period, not just for the summer.
And this is when a large number of us are trying to find ways and means of how to live with a limited supply of energy, and to find an alternative way for an industrial society to exist. The government is apparently taking the side of the monopolistic power industry.
As most of the other reactors in the country, Fukushima included, the Ooi reactors are also facing the sea, not on the Pacific, but the other side. We call it the Japan Sea, but the Koreans have named it the East Sea. The photographs show the reactors standing quite defenselessly and right on the coast.
The German and the Swiss peoples have sufficiently learned from the Fukushima and have decided to close down all their nuclear plants in due course. Are we not destined to do so?
No comments:
Post a Comment