Japan protests against nuclear power

Japan protests against nuclear power

2011-04-10 23:04:25 GMT+7 (ICT)

TOKYO (BNO NEWS) -- About 2,000 people on Sunday took to the streets of Tokyo to call for the closure of all nuclear power plants in Japan, NHK Television reported.


The rally was organized by eight anti-nuclear groups as engineers continue to control the crisis at Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, which was severely damaged on March 11 when an enormous 9.0-magnitude earthquake and a subsequent tsunami devastated the country. Demonstrators urged the government to make a policy shift to use alternative energy resources and shut down all the nuclear power plants in Japan.

Outside the Industry Ministry and the headquarters of Tokyo Electric Power Company, demonstrators called on the government and the firm to take more responsibility for what happened at the Fukushima plant.

 They also demanded that Chubu Electric Power Company shut down its Hamaoka nuclear plant, which is located about 200 kilometers southwest of Tokyo in a coastal area of Shizuoka Prefecture, since it could also be damaged by a tsunami.

Japan has been dumping radioactive water from the Fukushima-1 nuclear plant into the Pacific ocean, causing national and international concern over its environmental consequences. Heavily contaminated water in turbine buildings and a concrete tunnel is hampering work to restore cooling functions in the troubled reactors.

The 9.0-magnitude and its resulting tsunami has left at least 12,985 people killed and 14,809 people remain missing. Japanese officials have called it the worst crisis since the end of World War II.

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