Energy Archives - Deep Kyoto

Anti-Nuclear Rally, Maruyama Park, Kyoto – Saturday March 9th 2013

March 4, 2013 By Michael Lambe

The only Japanese nuclear power station to have been restarted since the nuclear disaster of March 2011 is the one at Oi in Fukui, just 60km from Kyoto and only 30km from our drinking water supply, Lake Biwa. (Stephen Gill)

There will be a big anti-nuclear rally at Maruyama Park this Saturday (March 9th). As usual with these events it looks very much like it will have a festival feel. People will gather for speeches, performances etc from 12. The main rally is at 1.30 and the march commences at 14.45. Details (Japanese only) at this site: http://nonukeskyoto.jimdo.com/

Thanks to Aileen Mioko Smith of Green Action Japan for sharing this news.

Of related interest are these recent articles from Fresh Currents writers Winifred Bird and David McNeil.

Winifred Bird, has recently published two new articles with her colleague Jane Braxton Little on the contaminated forests of Chernobyl and Fukushima. They give a good overview of the likely long-term effects on both ecosystems and the dilemma that local authorities face in how best to manage them. LINK

David McNeil has an excellent interview in the Independent with one of the “Fukushima 50”:

They displayed a bravery few can comprehend, yet very little is known about the men who stayed behind to save Japan’s stricken nuclear plant. In a rare interview, David McNeill meets Atsufumi Yoshizawa, who was at work on 11 March 2011 when disaster struck. LINK

UPDATE (7th March): Stephen Gill informs me that there is a further event on Monday March 11th – the anniversary of the disaster. Demonstrators will gather at the Bic Camera plaza (beside Kyoto station) from 6.30 and march from there at 6.45 twice around the KEPCO offices. So if like me, you can’t make the big event on Saturday, this is your chance to show your solidarity and make some noise. For an insight into why this issue is still important check out this video: Fukushima: Human Impacts

Perks!

July 8, 2012 By Michael Lambe

Did I mention that there are perks for contributing to the Fresh Currents campaign fund?

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For a $10 donation – you get your name on the Fresh Currents website, our undying gratitude & an enormous feeling of wellbeing.

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For $50 – all of the above + a free digital subscription to Kyoto Journal issues #76 – 80

For $100 – all of the above + a free digital edition of Fresh Currents

For $300 – all of the above + a gorgeous etching by the esteemed landscape artist Brian Williams (he’s very good)

Brian Williams etching — Millennial Tree by Brian Williams

For $500 – all of the above + LIFETIME DIGITAL SUBSCRIPTION to Kyoto Journal!!!

So there you have it! At the time of writing there are just 28 hours remaining in which to claim these goodies, so click here, throw some cash our way and oh yes, help save the planet while you’re at it!

Here’s the link: http://www.indiegogo.com/freshcurrents

Green Action’s Aileen Mioko Smith Confronts METI Minister Yukio Edano on the Fault Issue at Ohi Nuclear Power Plant

July 2, 2012 By Michael Lambe

No Nukes Demo in Tokyo June 29th - this picture by John Einarsen — This picture was taken by Kyoto Journal’s John Einarsen at the anti-nuclear demonstration outside the Prime Minister’s office in Tokyo on June 29th. Tens of thousands of protesters called for a reversal of the decision to restart the Ohi reactors.

Here’s the latest update from the anti-nuclear front with Green Action Japan:

1. Government Committee to Deliberate Earthquake Fault (F-6) at Ohi Nuclear Power Plant
2. Green Action Executive Director Meets METI Minister Yukio Edano

On Friday, 29 June, NISA announced that the earthquake fault under the Ohi Plant will be on the agenda of NISA’s Earthquake・Tsunami Expert Advisory Group. This is a breakthrough since it is an admission that this issue must be formally examined. The meeting will take place on Wednesday 3 July (14:00~16:30.) Citizens can have observer status at the meeting. Yuichi Sugiyama, interviewed earlier by Kyodo on this issue, is one of the committee members.

The advisory committee meeting comes a day and a half after Ohi Unit 3 is to be started. Citizens are demanding that an on-site investigation of the F-6 fault be undertaken before restart of Ohi Units 3 and 4. The investigation would only take a maximum of one week.

On 29 June, Green Action director met with METI Minister Yukio Edano when she accompanied Ben Hashimoto (Lower House), one of the five Diet members who took part in the multi-partisan Diet member delegation which inspected the Ohi nuclear power plant on 27 June with tectonic geomorphologist Mitsuhisa Watanabe, Toyo University.

Smith challenged METI minister Edano when he said that no new information has been released concerning the issue. She stated that crucial information on the F-6 fault had been suppressed by NISA and Kansai Electric when the back-check examination of Ohi earthquake faults was undertaken by government-appointed experts in 2010. After this back-check, NISA examined the crucial information (the Sketch of the Nortwest Wall) and issued its report stating that F-6 was not an active fault. It is unclear if any experts were involved in this determination made after the back-check.

Edano’s reply to Smith was, “I am not here to debate this issue with citizens.”

Earlier in the day Edano addressed the Ohi F-6 Fault issue during his regular press conference.

Green Action
Suite 103, 22-75 Tanaka Sekiden-cho
Sakyo-ku, Kyoto 606-8203 Japan
Tel: +81-75-701-7223
Fax: +81-75-702-1952
Cell:+81-90-3620-9251
email: amsmith@gol.com
URL: http://www.greenaction-japan.org/
http://fukushima.greenaction-japan.org/

Ohi Nuclear Power Plant ~ Why We Should Be Worried…

June 29, 2012 By Michael Lambe

Estimated number of people living within 30 kilometers of Fukui’s 14 reactors: 1,249,981
(Fukui Shimbun, Oct. 21, 2011)

Distance from the Ohi reactors to central Kyoto city: 60 kilometers

The following message is from Aileen Mioko Smith of Green Action Japan. Click on the pictures to view a larger image.

The red lines on this JPEG photo depict the shattered zones (earthquake faults) under the Ohi Nuclear Power Plant. The information is from Kansai Electric. The information is laid over Google Earth by Professor Mitsuhisa Watanabe, tectonic geomorphologist, Toyo University (Tokyo, Japan.)

The F-6 fault which is suspected of being an active fault is marked. The boat-shaped blue shows the location of the original trench excavation.

Professor Watanabe inspected the Ohi Nuclear Power Plant site yesterday (June 27th) with 5 members of the Japanese Diet. He confirmed 3 locations where the F-6 fault which is suspected of being an active fault can be examined by excavation. According to Professor Watanabe, the process to confirm whether this fault is active or not can be undertaken within a one week period (this includes the time required for refilling the excavation).

Government regulations state that category “S” equipment which require rigorous seismic resistance standards are “not assumed to be built over active faults.” Yesterday, it was confirmed during the on-site examination that the pipes for the emergency coolant intake from the ocean are “S” category, and they cross over the F-6 fault.

The Fukui prefecture newspapers report on the above issue today. Below, see Kansai Electric’s original sketch of the Northwest Wall of the trench. The sketch depicts a classic active fault. This controversial sketch was not submitted by Kansai Electric during the recent government back-check of Ohi.

Yuichi Sugiyama, a prominent member of the government’s back-check committee, in an interview with Kyodo (article 26 June) stated, “It is necessary to make an onsite examination of the shattered faults once more. We have only seen part of the past inspection records. We need to examine all of the information.”
(Original Japanese of Sugiyama quote:「現地で破砕帯をもう一度調査するべきだろう。過去の調査記録も一部しか見ていないので、全部確認するべきだ。」)

For more details, contact Green Action.

Aileen Mioko Smith: cell +81-90-3620-9251.

News Roundup: PM Noda Defies Massive Public Opposition to OK Restart of Ohi Reactors / Expert Warns of Active Faults Under Ohi Nuclear Plant

June 16, 2012 By Michael Lambe

11,000 protestors gathered outside Prime Minister Noda’s official residence last night to oppose the restart of the Ohi nuclear reactors in Fukui prefecture.

However, none of this was broadcast on Japanese TV. [Source: Fukushima Voice]

And today in direct defiance of massive domestic opposition, Prime Minister Noda gave the go-ahead for the reactors to be restarted.

Activists have collected more than 7.5 million signatures on a petition urging an end to atomic power. Protesters have poured into the street almost daily over the past week. [Source: Reuters]

A Mainichi newspaper poll recently showed that 71 percent of the Japanese population are against the nuclear restarts. And in direct contradiction of PM Noda’s claims that the restarts are necessary for Japanese business, a Reuters Tankan poll has revealed that 72 percent of Japanese firms also want no early restart before safety can be guaranteed. Already there is speculation that this decision by the already unpopular Noda, “could undermine his political support and force early elections. ” [Source: Bloomberg]

[Read more…]

A Call for International Protest & Action: “Don’t restart the Ohi reactors”

June 13, 2012 By Michael Lambe

Today I am posting an urgent message to the world from a coalition of six groups opposed to the restart of nuclear reactors in Japan. Thank you to Stephen Gill for bringing this to my attention:

[UPDATE: Local actions in Tokyo and Osaka are also posted below*]

Dear Friends,

The Japanese Prime Minister Noda has announced his decision to order
the restart two nuclear reactors in the town of Ohi in the prefecture
of Fukui in Western Japan. He also claimed that nuclear energy will
remain an important source of energy for Japan also in the future,
thereby reconfirming Japans nuclear energy policy.

Despite all our efforts, despite the strong resistance in the region of
Western Japan surrounding Ohi, and despite the fact that a majority of
the Japanese people is against nuclear power, the Japanese government
is bowing to pressures of the nuclear lobby in Japan. We have tried
hard on our own, but now we believe that coordinated international
pressure on the Japan government is essential to bring on real and
substantial change. We believe that the Japanese government and the
Japanese public will react very sensitively to international pressure,
so we wish to ask you for your support to initiate and coordinate
international protest against the Japanese government.

[Read more…]

Tales From Off the Grid: Bringing Renewable Energy from Kansai to Tohoku, India, Mongolia, Nepal, and Beyond.

April 19, 2012 By Michael Lambe

Presented by: Vince Ng of Sky Group
DATE: Sunday, May 6th
TIME: 6 p.m.
LOCATION: Tadg’s Restaurant

Our friend Eric Johnston says,

Please join us at Tadg’s Restuarant in Kyoto on Sunday, May 6th, from 7:30 p.m. as Vince Ng of Sky Group, a consortium of renewable energy small and medium start-up firms based in Osaka, talks about the state of renewable energy in Japan and abroad from the viewpoint of those involved in manufacturing and selling renewable energy products in Japan and abroad on both a large scale and an indivdual basis.

Learn what it takes to put solar panels on a Mongolian yurt, the struggles to market portable solar lights in India, and the practical, sometimes funny, sometimes frustrating, experiences and economic, social, and cultural challenges firms have had in getting their renewable energy products to market in such locales as Kyoto, Tohoku, India, Indonesia, Nepal, and Mongolia, among other places.

Vince will likely be joined by others, including NGOs working with Sky Group.
Admission is free

Bye-Bye Nuclear Power 9/11

September 1, 2011 By Michael Lambe

On September 11th, six months from the day of the Great East Japan Earthquake, there will be a demonstration in Kyoto calling for the abandonment of nuclear power. The event will begin at 2pm in Maruyama Park. My friend Kawagoe Yoshio recently gave me a flyer for the demo which he had designed himself. I’ve given a rough translation of the flyer’s contents below minus the list of participating groups – because there are way too many!

A Citizens’ Demonstration for the Abandonment of Nuclear Power

Protect the air, water, earth, and sea! Protect all living things! Protect our regular way of life! Protect our children!

2011/09/11
2pm – 2:30: Speeches
2:46: At the time of the disaster there will be a minute’s silence.
Thereafter the demonstration will proceed from Maruyama Park through Gion, west along Shijo to Kawaramachi, and then north to Oike.

Meeting place: the weeping cherry tree in Maruyama Park (it’s huge you can’t miss it).

Nuclear power is unsafe and contrary to reason. Just look at what has happened in Fukushima. Let’s abandon nuclear power and build a future that is safe and fair.
The more we use nuclear power, the more radiation will increase and our world will be poisoned. Nuclear waste remains dangerous for thousands of years and we cannot dispose of it. Let’s stop nuclear power!
To create an easy life now at the cost of poisoning our future? We don’t need such technology!
The Ministry of the Environment has calculated that renewables can produce 40 times the energy that nuclear power produces. We recommend local energy production for local consumption!
If an accident were to occur at the Fukui nuclear power plants, Lake Biwa would be contaminated. Kyoto would be at grave risk. Let’s stop nuclear power production in Wakasa, and decommision the power plant at Monju immediately!

You can find more information about this event (in Japanese only) here.

Our Energy Future ~ Kyoto University English Language Seminar on July 14th

July 4, 2011 By Michael Lambe

I can’t think of any more important problem facing Japan today than the issue of energy production and how we continue to do it, safely and with minimum impact upon our environment. Too often the narrative is framed by the corporate powers that be as a fait accompli. How often do we hear the same old rhetoric trotted out? “Nuclear power is the only efficient way to produce the energy we need,” they tell us. “Realistically how else can we produce electricity while simultaneously halting climate change?” they say. Yet while the continuing debacle in Fukushima has put paid to any notion that continued use of nuclear energy in Japan is in any way realistic or efficient, the nuclear industry is still trying to frighten consumers away from alternatives with vague threats of power cuts. Clearly it’s time for us to step outside the narrative boundaries they would impose on us and learn to think outside the box about what is and isn’t possible. Hopefully this English Language seminar at Kyoto University on the 14th will help inspire some much needed debate. It certainly promises to be both inspirational and instructive!

Click on the image below to view it larger.

Our Energy Future: Exploring Safe and Sustainable Options
Date: July 14, 2011
Time: 5:30 – 7:30 p.m.
Venue: 2nd floor, International Conference Hall (II & III), Clock
Tower Centennial Hall , Kyoto University
Purpose: To give English-speaking students and community members
access to information from a broad range of perspectives about
available energy choices and government energy policy considerations
post-Fukushima.

PROGRAM
Introduction:
Prof. Roy Henk, Graduate School of Energy Science, Kyoto University –
Energy needs and wants
Speakers
• Ms. Aileen Mioko Smith, Green Action – What role will nuclear power
play in our energy future?
• Prof. Satoshi Konishi, Graduate School of Energy Science, Kyoto
University – Future energy scenarios for zero-carbon emission
• Prof. Andreas Neef, Graduate School of Global Environmental Studies,
Kyoto University – Repercussions of Fukushima in national energy
policy-making: The case of Germany
Commentary/summation: Prof. Ben McLellan, Graduate School of Energy
Science, Kyoto University
Open floor discussion

Pre-registration is necessary.
To pre-register or for further information, please send your name and
e-mail address for return confirmation to <energyseminar@sansai.ges.kyoto-u.ac.jp>
or contact us by fax:
075-753-9204
Please pre-register by noon, July 14, 2011
This seminar is supported by the Tertiary Education for Sustainable
Development Initiative, a JSPS Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research
No. 23300285

Thanks to Jane Singer for sending me this.

Related story: Green Action