A-bomb survivors and citizens rally in Hiroshima, call for an end to nuclear energy
Mar. 19, 2015
by Michiko Tanaka, Staff Writer
On March 11, the day which marked the fourth anniversary of the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi (No. 1) nuclear power plant, a rally calling for an end to the use of nuclear energy in Japan was held in front of the A-bomb Dome in Hiroshima. The gathering was organized by an executive committee consisting of such groups as the Hiroshima Congress against A- and H-Bombs (Gensuikin) and the Hiroshima Council against Atomic and Hydrogen Bombs (Gensuikyo). While efforts to restart the nation’s nuclear power plants have been accelerating in recent days, about 400 people, according to the organizer, turned out at the rally to voice their strong opposition.
The participants of the rally first took a moment of silence to remember the victims of the Great East Japan Earthquake. Then Sunao Tsuboi, 89, one of the leaders of the event and the chairman of the Hiroshima Prefectural Confederation of A-bomb Sufferers Organizations (Hidankyo), spoke to the crowd, saying, “What happened in Fukushima must never take place again. Nuclear power plants cannot be controlled by human beings and they must be eliminated.”
Miwa Chiwaki, 44, the secretariat chief of the Complainants for Criminal Prosecution of the Fukushima Nuclear Disaster, located in Tamura City, Fukushima Prefecture, called for support for her group’s efforts, saying, “Despite the great damage and loss caused by the accident, neither the government nor the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) is willing to take any responsibility for this.”
After the rally, the participants marched about a kilometer to the headquarters of the Chugoku Electric Power Company as they chanted “No nukes!”
Prior to the rally, six people, including Mr. Tsuboi, visited the Chugoku Electric Power Company and asked the company to take four actions, among them withdrawing the company’s application for a safety assessment of the Shimane No. 2 nuclear power plant, in the city of Matsue, and abandoning its plan to construct a new nuclear power station in Kaminoseki, Yamaguchi Prefecture.
(Originally published on March 12, 2015)
On March 11, the day which marked the fourth anniversary of the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi (No. 1) nuclear power plant, a rally calling for an end to the use of nuclear energy in Japan was held in front of the A-bomb Dome in Hiroshima. The gathering was organized by an executive committee consisting of such groups as the Hiroshima Congress against A- and H-Bombs (Gensuikin) and the Hiroshima Council against Atomic and Hydrogen Bombs (Gensuikyo). While efforts to restart the nation’s nuclear power plants have been accelerating in recent days, about 400 people, according to the organizer, turned out at the rally to voice their strong opposition.
The participants of the rally first took a moment of silence to remember the victims of the Great East Japan Earthquake. Then Sunao Tsuboi, 89, one of the leaders of the event and the chairman of the Hiroshima Prefectural Confederation of A-bomb Sufferers Organizations (Hidankyo), spoke to the crowd, saying, “What happened in Fukushima must never take place again. Nuclear power plants cannot be controlled by human beings and they must be eliminated.”
Miwa Chiwaki, 44, the secretariat chief of the Complainants for Criminal Prosecution of the Fukushima Nuclear Disaster, located in Tamura City, Fukushima Prefecture, called for support for her group’s efforts, saying, “Despite the great damage and loss caused by the accident, neither the government nor the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) is willing to take any responsibility for this.”
After the rally, the participants marched about a kilometer to the headquarters of the Chugoku Electric Power Company as they chanted “No nukes!”
Prior to the rally, six people, including Mr. Tsuboi, visited the Chugoku Electric Power Company and asked the company to take four actions, among them withdrawing the company’s application for a safety assessment of the Shimane No. 2 nuclear power plant, in the city of Matsue, and abandoning its plan to construct a new nuclear power station in Kaminoseki, Yamaguchi Prefecture.
(Originally published on March 12, 2015)
