Youth from Hiroshima to attend peace forum in Kazakhstan
Aug. 23, 2012
by Sakiko Masuda, Staff Writer
Youth from the A-bombed city of Hiroshima and Kazakhstan will hold their first peace forum in the city of Semey (formerly Semipalatinsk) on September 1. A large number of Kazakh residents were exposed to radiation as a result of nuclear testing conducted by the former Soviet Union at a test site in the vicinity. The theme of the forum will be “Questioning the Need for Nuclear Energy” and will feature an exchange of views among university students and other youth from Japan and Kazakhstan, nations that have both suffered nuclear damage. The participants will discuss such issues as the accident at the Fukushima No. 1 (Daiichi) nuclear power plant, which has been of keen interest to Kazakh citizens as well.
From Hiroshima, members of an international exchange group called CANVaS, led by Takayuki Koasano, will take part in the forum. The group has been visiting Kazakhstan almost every year since 2007. When the group members visited the country in August 2011, they established a body called the Hiroshima-Semey Friendship Project, which has been organizing the event along with medical school students in Semey. A meeting in May via Skype, an online videoconferencing service, helped the parties move forward with their preparations.
Six members of CANVaS, including university students and young people in the work force, as well as the Semey medical school students, will take part in the forum. The participants from Hiroshima will report on the changes that have occurred in the awareness of the Japanese people toward nuclear energy since the accident at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant. The forum participants will also share and discuss what they learn at school concerning the issues of nuclear weapons and nuclear energy.
Miwako Koasano, 31, a resident of Minami Ward, Hiroshima and the assistant leader of CANVaS, said, “I would like to tell people about the current situation in Japan in connection to the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, as well as the nuclear accident.” Mai Nikami, 19, a resident of Nishi Ward and a second-year student at Hiroshima Shudo University, said, “I hope we can think together about ways to advance the abolition of nuclear weapons.”
Radiation exposure in Kazakhstan
Over 450 nuclear tests were conducted between 1949 and 1989 at the Semipalatinsk nuclear test site, the largest test site in the former Soviet Union. Among them, over 100 tests were conducted in the air or on the ground. As a consequence, radioactive materials were dispersed over a wide area, with the radiation wreaking serious damage, including a high incidence of cancer and frequent abnormal births. According to the Kazakhstan government, the number of people who were exposed to radiation exceeds 1.5 million.
(Originally published on August 20, 2012)
Youth from the A-bombed city of Hiroshima and Kazakhstan will hold their first peace forum in the city of Semey (formerly Semipalatinsk) on September 1. A large number of Kazakh residents were exposed to radiation as a result of nuclear testing conducted by the former Soviet Union at a test site in the vicinity. The theme of the forum will be “Questioning the Need for Nuclear Energy” and will feature an exchange of views among university students and other youth from Japan and Kazakhstan, nations that have both suffered nuclear damage. The participants will discuss such issues as the accident at the Fukushima No. 1 (Daiichi) nuclear power plant, which has been of keen interest to Kazakh citizens as well.
From Hiroshima, members of an international exchange group called CANVaS, led by Takayuki Koasano, will take part in the forum. The group has been visiting Kazakhstan almost every year since 2007. When the group members visited the country in August 2011, they established a body called the Hiroshima-Semey Friendship Project, which has been organizing the event along with medical school students in Semey. A meeting in May via Skype, an online videoconferencing service, helped the parties move forward with their preparations.
Six members of CANVaS, including university students and young people in the work force, as well as the Semey medical school students, will take part in the forum. The participants from Hiroshima will report on the changes that have occurred in the awareness of the Japanese people toward nuclear energy since the accident at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant. The forum participants will also share and discuss what they learn at school concerning the issues of nuclear weapons and nuclear energy.
Miwako Koasano, 31, a resident of Minami Ward, Hiroshima and the assistant leader of CANVaS, said, “I would like to tell people about the current situation in Japan in connection to the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, as well as the nuclear accident.” Mai Nikami, 19, a resident of Nishi Ward and a second-year student at Hiroshima Shudo University, said, “I hope we can think together about ways to advance the abolition of nuclear weapons.”
Keywords
Radiation exposure in Kazakhstan
Over 450 nuclear tests were conducted between 1949 and 1989 at the Semipalatinsk nuclear test site, the largest test site in the former Soviet Union. Among them, over 100 tests were conducted in the air or on the ground. As a consequence, radioactive materials were dispersed over a wide area, with the radiation wreaking serious damage, including a high incidence of cancer and frequent abnormal births. According to the Kazakhstan government, the number of people who were exposed to radiation exceeds 1.5 million.
(Originally published on August 20, 2012)
