{"id":4292,"date":"2019-01-30T09:29:52","date_gmt":"2019-01-30T00:29:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cnic.jp\/english\/?p=4292"},"modified":"2019-01-30T10:26:57","modified_gmt":"2019-01-30T01:26:57","slug":"group-intro-from-minamata-disease-to-opposing-nuclear-power-plants","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cnic.jp\/english\/?p=4292","title":{"rendered":"Group Intro: From Minamata disease to opposing nuclear power plants"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

by Nagano Takafumi, Representative of Minamata Citizens Group for Considering Nuclear Evacuation Plans<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Protest in front of the Sendai Nuclear Power Plant entrance. The banner reads: “No nukes, protect life!”<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I have been engaged in the anti-nuclear power movement since 1976. Immediately after the disastrous nuclear accident that occurred at Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station in March 2011, I deeply regretted the way I conducted anti-nuclear campaigns and was seriously worried about Japan\u2019s future. I was so upset that I could not settle down to do anything else at the time. However, I decided to continue with my activities because I felt some kind of responsibility, as an anti-nuclear power activist, for failing to take effective action to prevent the accident.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the spring of 2012, along with other citizens, I launched the \u201cMinamata Citizens Group for Considering Nuclear Evacuation Plans,\u201d with a policy to do whatever we could to stop the restart of nuclear plants. We took two different approaches, holding direct negotiations with nuclear power plant operators, and actively lobbying local government officials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Minamata City\nin Kumamoto Prefecture, where we live, is well-known as a place where more than\ntwo thousand residents suffered Minamata disease caused by mercury poisoning\nfrom a Chisso Corporation chemical plant many decades ago. The \u201ceconomic\nprosperity first\u201d policy was the main cause of this tragic incident. The\nMinamata citizens are, therefore, fully aware of the disastrous consequences of\nindustrial pollution. They know that once such pollution occurs, it will inflict\nirreversible damage on local residents. Due to this painful experience, local\ncitizens stood up to express their opposition to nuclear power generation. In\nfact, many Minamata disease patients are taking part in our campaigns. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our group is constantly asking questions about the fundamental danger of nuclear power generation, such as, \u201cWhy are evacuation plans necessary for the residents around a nuclear power plant?\u201d, \u201cAre there any kinds of energy generating systems that require the formulation of evacuation plans other than nuclear power?\u201d or \u201cCan you think of evacuation plans for a time when a natural disaster, for example, a major earthquake, and a disastrous nuclear-power-plant accident occurred simultaneously?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When we\nevacuate, the major concerns that come to mind first of all are more or less as\nfollows: Means of transport for evacuation, traffic congestion, blocked or\ncut-off evacuation routes when a natural disaster occurs simultaneously with a\ndevastating nuclear plant accident, revision of evacuation routes when the wind\ndirection changes, how we transmit evacuation warnings and other related\ninformation to local residents, how we evacuate the sick, hospital patients,\nelderly or handicapped people and others who need support, not to mention the problems\ninvolved in long-term evacuation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Initially, we were so eager to quickly achieve\nthe departure from nuclear power generation that we wished to totally deny\nnuclear power plants in our campaigns. We came to the conclusion, however, that\na more moderate approach would be effective to win support from a greater\nnumber of citizens. We firstly decided to assert the need to formulate \u201cmore\nviable and effective evacuation plans.\u201d In line with this policy, we began visiting\nofficials of the Minamata City government, Kumamoto Prefectural government and\nKagoshima Prefectural government, and urged them to draw up such evacuation\nplans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On another\noccasion, we held lecture meetings by inviting experts on evacuation and people\naffected by the Fukushima nuclear accident. At the same time, we began\nnegotiations with the electric power companies that operate nuclear power\nstations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the wake of\nthe Fukushima nuclear accident, we had hoped that the devastating accident\nwould press Japan to move toward a nuclear power-free society. The reality was\nthat the Sendai Nuclear Power Station, which is located only 40 kilometers from\nMinamata, became Japan\u2019s first nuclear plant to resume operation. It became\noperational in August 2015. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A long time has\npassed since I began participating in anti-nuclear plant campaigns. During that\ntime, I have experienced ups and downs in the movement. There are various\nproblems in our society, but I have a feeling that the problem of nuclear power\nplants is the most serious one. After feeling great regret and fear in the wake\nof the Fukushima nuclear accident, I strongly feel that nuclear power plants\nshould be decommissioned. Based on this belief, I wish to continue anti-nuclear\nplant activities in the future. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n


<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Nagano Takafumi, Representative of Minamata Citizens Group for Considering Nuclear Evacuation Plans I have been engaged in the anti-nuclear power movement since 1976. Immediately after the disastrous nuclear accident that occurred at Fukushima...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4292","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-who"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cnic.jp\/english\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4292","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cnic.jp\/english\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cnic.jp\/english\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cnic.jp\/english\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cnic.jp\/english\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4292"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/cnic.jp\/english\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4292\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4314,"href":"https:\/\/cnic.jp\/english\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4292\/revisions\/4314"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cnic.jp\/english\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4292"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cnic.jp\/english\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4292"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cnic.jp\/english\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4292"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}