Dispossession: Liberalism's Crisis Excerpts from Chapters Six, the conclusion.
[i] “TEPCO Facing Compensation Demands from Dozens of Local Gov'ts Over Nuclear Disaster,” The Mainichi, October 12, 2015, accessed October 16, 2015, http://mainichi.jp/english/english/newsselect/news/20151012p2a00m0na006000c.htm.
[ii] Dorothy McClure, “Social-Studies Textbooks and Atomic Energy,” The School Review, 57.10 (Dec., 1949): pp. 540-546 Published by: University of Chicago Press Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1082388 Accessed: 06-10-2015 17:09 UTC. P. 540.
[iii] Maurice Tamman, Ben Casselman and Paul Mozur, “Scores of Reactors in Quake Zones,” The Wall Street Journal, March 19, 2011, accessed March 23, 2011, http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748703512404576208872161503008.
[iv] Rebecca Smith and Tennille Tracy, Simulated Meltdown Reignites US Battle,” The Wall Street Journal, April 7, 2011, A10.
[v] Rob Edwards, “Revealed: British government's plan to play down Fukushima,” The Guardian June 31, 2011, accessed July 1, 2011, http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/jun/30/british-government-plan-play-down-fukushima.
[vi] Bill Dedman U.S. Nuclear Agency Hid Concerns, Hailed Safety Record as Fukushima Melted. NBC News March 10, 2015, accessed March 10, 2014 http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/fukushima-anniversary/u-s-nuclear-agency-hid-concerns-hailed-safety-record-fukushima-n48561
Chapter Five explores how crisis
management of the Fukushima nuclear crisis reinforced nuclear conceptions of
security while simultaneously dispossessing Japanese citizens of their
fundamental liberal rights of property and personhood. People in Japan are
expected to move back into contaminated areas exceeding the level established
by the Soviet Union after Chernobyl. Japan’s government saved TEPCO from
bankruptcy and so far has allowed TEPCO to avoid compensating fully the
prefecture and municipal governments demanding restitution for the damage and
decontamination costs incurred by the Fukushima nuclear disaster.[i] The LDP has linked nuclear
with its national security and is pushing hard for reactor re-starts despite
concerns about heightened geological activity in Japan. The LDP’s new state
states secret law and constitutional revisionism have ominous undertones. Has
democracy succumbed to nuclear authoritarianism? In 1947, David Lilienthal, chairman of the Atomic
Energy Commission, promised: “Atomic energy and scientific discoveries have not
and need not change the fundamental principles of democracy, which rest upon
faith in the ultimate wisdom of the people, when they have been truthfully and
clearly informed of the essential facts.”[ii] The crisis and long-term risk management of the Fukushima nuclear crisis
pose hard questions about the sustainability of democracy in Japan given the
documented lack of transparency and rise of secrecy and militarism in recent
years.
Governmental communication about the
Fukushima crisis by authorities in Japan, the U.K. and U.S. denied and then
subsequently trivialized the extent of damage and the risk of harm. This
conclusion is demonstrated in Japan’s evacuation and exclusion zone policies.
Lack of planning by TEPCO and government authorities increased citizens’
exposure. Unwillingness to reveal information about plume location and fallout also
increased citizens’ exposure. Fraudulent safety inspections in a lax regulatory
environment likely contributed to the disaster, in addition to the failures in
site design, inadequate sea wall, and location of backup generators in
basements prone to flooding. Evacuation was protracted and is now being
reversed despite problems with decontamination and recontamination. People are
expected to live in environments up to twenty-times more radioactive than
previously inhabited and environmental contamination is unremitting.
The long-term pollution from the Fukushima
crisis is unprecedented given radionuclides from the disaster continue today,
over four years after the disaster, to leach from the site, as TEPCO struggles
to identify the location of the contents of ruptured reactor pressure vessels
and stem contaminated water production. An important aquifer in Japan and the
Pacific Ocean are under assault from radionuclide eco-systems. Yet, the
response by governments across the world has appeared underwhelming given the
ongoing scope of challenges associated with bringing the site under control,
decommissioning, and decontamination.
Analysis by The Wall Street Journal in the wake of the disaster revealed that
dozens of nuclear reactors are located on fault lines around the world, with at
least 14 situated on faults in high-hazard areas, especially in California,
Taiwan, and Japan.[iii]
A simulated meltdown conducted by the NRC determined that a GE-designed boiling
water reactor with containment similar to those at Daiichi would be on the
verge of meltdown a mere two days after losing power.[iv] Yet, from the earliest
days of the disaster, governments across the globe and their international
agencies minimized risks from Japan’s nuclear crisis despite the significant
lessons to be learned for their own mostly aging nuclear industries, and
despite evidence that cold shutdown really hadn’t been achieved in November of
2011 as claimed by TEPCO because the fuel from reactor units 1 and 2 could not
be found, as described in Chapter Five. An investigation
by The Guardian newspaper of
declassified emails disclosed the British government conspired with the British
nuclear industry to downplay the significance of Fukushima.[v] Likewise, NBC network news concluded from their
reading of NRC emails during the early days of the disaster that NRC staff
“made a concerted effort to play down the risks of earthquakes and tsunamis to
America’s aging nuclear plants.” NBC’s headline summarizes their findings:
“U.S. Nuclear Agency Hid Concerns, Hailed Safety Record as Fukushima Melted.” Their
report cites censorship and
evasion in the NRC response to questions about nuclear safety in the U.S. in
the wake of the Fukushima crisis. Most telling, the NRC “dissuaded news organizations
from using the NRC's own data on earthquake risks at U.S. nuclear plants, including
the Indian Point Energy Center near New York City” and when asked to help
reporters explain what would happen during the worst-case scenario -- a nuclear
meltdown -- the agency declined to address the questions.”[vi] Governments don’t prioritize public
welfare when pitted against the viability and perpetuation of the nuclear
complex, as demonstrated in the Fukushima crisis.
[i] “TEPCO Facing Compensation Demands from Dozens of Local Gov'ts Over Nuclear Disaster,” The Mainichi, October 12, 2015, accessed October 16, 2015, http://mainichi.jp/english/english/newsselect/news/20151012p2a00m0na006000c.htm.
[ii] Dorothy McClure, “Social-Studies Textbooks and Atomic Energy,” The School Review, 57.10 (Dec., 1949): pp. 540-546 Published by: University of Chicago Press Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1082388 Accessed: 06-10-2015 17:09 UTC. P. 540.
[iii] Maurice Tamman, Ben Casselman and Paul Mozur, “Scores of Reactors in Quake Zones,” The Wall Street Journal, March 19, 2011, accessed March 23, 2011, http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748703512404576208872161503008.
[iv] Rebecca Smith and Tennille Tracy, Simulated Meltdown Reignites US Battle,” The Wall Street Journal, April 7, 2011, A10.
[v] Rob Edwards, “Revealed: British government's plan to play down Fukushima,” The Guardian June 31, 2011, accessed July 1, 2011, http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/jun/30/british-government-plan-play-down-fukushima.
[vi] Bill Dedman U.S. Nuclear Agency Hid Concerns, Hailed Safety Record as Fukushima Melted. NBC News March 10, 2015, accessed March 10, 2014 http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/fukushima-anniversary/u-s-nuclear-agency-hid-concerns-hailed-safety-record-fukushima-n48561
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ReplyDeleteYes it does. Inverted totalitarianism is a very effective conceptualization.
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