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Protesters March On One-Year
Anniversary Of Japanese Nuclear Disaster
Japan Nuclear Crisis
EMF Computer Protection
Magnetic Field Detector
Tuesday
March 13, 2012
JOSH STILTS
Brattleboro Reformer
VERNON
- Exactly one year after an earthquake, tsunami and fire
ravaged the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant,
protesters gathered at the gates of Vermont's only nuclear
power plant, calling for its shutdown.
As the
fate of the
Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant is being debated in
federal court and on a state level, more than 200 people
hiked six miles along Vernon Road from the plant to downtown
Brattleboro Sunday, in a mock evacuation in solidarity of
the thousands that lost their homes, businesses and loved
ones because of the disaster in Japan.
Nina
Swaim, of Sharon, was one of dozens who wore a paper
skeleton mask attached to a silver cylinder with the words
"VT Yankee" written across it and bubble wrap coming out of
the top resembling one of the plant's steam towers.
"We
need to shut this plant down," she said. "This reactor is
the same type that melted down in Fukushima. If it can
happen there it can happen here."
During
the peace walk, other protesters wore signs that read
"nuclear refugee."
Some
carried luggage, pushed strollers, walked their dogs or like
Susan Kunhardt, of Marlboro, carried a doll, "Maggie," to
simulate what many mothers had to endure attempting to flee
the disaster. "It's time to close this failing, aging plant
before something like that happens here," she said. "We
don't need nuclear power."
For
many people in Japan, like 70-year-old Toshiko Murakami,
memories of the terrifying earthquake and tsunami that
destroyed much of her seaside town and swept away her sister
brought fresh tears Sunday.
"My
sister is still missing so I can't find peace within
myself," she told the Associate Press before attending a
ceremony in a tent in Rikuzentaka, Japan, marking the
anniversary of the March 11, 2011, disaster that killed just
over 19,000 people and unleashed the world's worst nuclear
crisis in a quarter century.
Across
Japan, people paused at 2:46 p.m. -- the moment the
magnitude-9.0 quake struck a year ago -- for moments of
silence, prayer and reflection about the enormous losses
suffered and monumental tasks ahead.
Japan
must rebuild dozens of ravaged coastal communities, shut
down the crippled Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant and
decontaminate radiated land so it is inhabitable again, and
many of the protesters said they're fearful that a similar
incident could happen in Vermont.
The
earthquake was the strongest recorded in Japan's history,
and set off a tsunami that swelled to more than 65 feet (20
meters) in some spots along the northeastern coast,
destroying tens of thousands of homes and causing widespread
destruction.
All
told, some 325,000 people are still in temporary housing.
While much of the debris along the tsunami-ravaged coast has
been gathered into massive piles, only 6 percent has been
disposed of through incineration. Sunday's hike was
sponsored by the SAGE Alliance, a group committed to the
closure of Vermont Yankee and replacing nuclear energy
across the world with renewable energy sources.
After
the trek Chiho Kaneko, of Hartford, gave people an eye
witness report of what life is like in the aftermath of
Fukushima, and nuclear experts Arnie and Margaret Gundersen
gave a presentation on conditions of the plant and what the
disaster means for reactors in the United States.
Kaneko
said very little rebuilding has begun and that many towns
are still finalizing reconstruction plans, some of which
involve costly and ambitious projects like moving
residential areas to higher, safer ground. According to the
Associated Press, bureaucratic delays in coordination
between the central government and local officials have also
slowed rebuilding efforts.
The
memories of last March 11 are still raw for Naomi Fujino, a
42-year-old Rikuzentakata resident who lost her father in
the tsunami. She escaped with her mother to a nearby hill,
where they watched the enormous wave wash away their home.
They waited all night, but her father never came as he had
promised. Two months later, his body was found.
"I
wanted to save people, but I couldn't. I couldn't even help
my father. I cannot keep crying,'' Fujino told the AP.
‘'What can I do but keep on going?'' Public opposition to
nuclear power has grown in the wake of the Fukushima
disaster, the worst since Chernobyl in 1986.
The
tsunami knocked out the plant's cooling systems, causing
meltdowns at three reactors and spewing radiation into the
air. Some 100,000 residents who were evacuated remain in
temporary housing or with relatives.
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