ONE YEAR AFTER THE FUKUSHIMA DISASTER: WHAT IT'S LIKE TODAY IN JAPAN ...AND WHY A DISASTER OF SIMILAR MAGNITUDE COULD OCCUR IN THE U.S. AT ANY MOMENT. NUCLEAR EXPERT: "THERE IS MORE NUCLEAR CESIUM-137 IN THE FUEL POOL AT THE PLANT IN PILGRIM, MASSACHUSETTS, THAN WAS EVER RELEASED BY EVERY NUCLEAR BOMB EVER EXPLODED IN THE ATMOSPHERE."

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MARCH 12, 2012                                                                                                         Permalink

Contamination Fears Linger for Japanese Children, Workers One Year After Fukushima Meltdown

We go to Japan to speak with Aileen Mioko Smith, executive director of the Kyoto-based group Green Action, as Japan marks the first anniversary of the massive earthquake and tsunami that left approximately 20,000 dead or missing and triggered a meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. It was the world’s worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl. About 326,000 Japanese residents remain homeless, including 80,000 evacuated from the vicinity of the Fukushima facility. Residents evacuated from the zone set up in a 12-mile radius around the nuclear plant are especially struggling to rebuild their lives. We also speak with Saburo Kitajima, a contract laborer and union organizer from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. "The workers at the Fukushima plant are currently working under extreme circumstances," Kitajima says. "In spite of being exposed to radiation, the levels of wages run to about $100 a day." [Original includes rush transcript]

MARCH 12, 2012                                                                                                          Permalink

Nuclear Engineer Arnie Gundersen: Fukushima Meltdown Could Result in 1 Million Cases of Cancer

The Obama administration is backing an expansion of nuclear power plants, but have the lessons of Fukushima been learned? We speak to former nuclear industry executive Arne Gundersen on the fallout from Fukushima, the design failures of the Mark I nuclear reactor used at Fukushima and many U.S. power plants, the economics of nuclear energy and the battle over nuclear power in his home state of Vermont. Gundersen is a former nuclear industry senior vice president who has coordinated projects at 70 nuclear power plants around the country. He is the chief engineer at Fairewinds Associates and co-wrote the new Greenpeace report, "Lessons from Fukushima." [Original includes rush transcript]