Monday, August 24, 2015

2000 gather outside Sendai Nuclear Power Plant from across Japan; Report of August 10 protest




At 8.30am on August 10, we were standing right in front of the main gate of the Kyushu Electric Power Company's Sendai nuclear power plant, together with . Japan was about to have an active nuclear reactor, ending a period of no nukes realized and lasted for some time after the Fukushima disaster of March 11, 2011. The government had rushed to the restart: People living outside of the range of 10km radius were left without emergency evacuation plans; No one had been fully assured of the safety. The protesters outside the Sendai power plant came from all over Japan, including Fukushima, Tokyo and neighboring prefectures and various places where other nuclear power plants are located. We all regarded the issue as theirs; It is not just a matter for people of Kagoshima, the prefecture where the Sendai plant is located. “No one has ever been held responsible for the Fukushima disaster: No one is ready to take the responsibility for possible accidents to come. Japan is not qualified to run a nuclear reactor.” Many of us stood on top of the car, parked there in face of numerous policemen and other security personnel surrounding the protesters, one after another to speak to the others there. “The government has chosen the Sendai plant as the first to reactivate because it is the farthest from Tokyo among all the nuclear power plants, I think. They discriminate against the residents of regions far from the capital. Don't insult the residents of Kyushu!” shouted a woman from Oita, a prefecture in Kyushu. A former worker at a nuclear power plant spoke of his desire to stop recurrence of the tragic experience he and his co-workers had. “We just cannot understand at all,” said a French protester. (By HORIKIRI Satomi)

In Tokyo, protest was staged outside the branch office of Kyushu Electric Power Company in the evening of August 11. Many of the protesters had just returned from Kagoshima.

8.10 現地報告 : 川内 原発ゲートの真ん前に私たちは立っていた

 8月10日、朝8時半。九州電力川内原発 ゲートの真ん前に私たちは立っていた。3・11後、原発ゼロを実現してきた日本が、再び原発時代を始 めようとしている。10キロ圏外の避難計画はなく、安全性には何の確信もない中での見切り発車。地 元・鹿児島だけの問題ではないと、福島から、首都圏から、そして全国の原発地域から人々が集まった。 「いまだ福島原発事故に誰も責任をとっていない。その覚悟もない。そんな国に 原発を動かす資格はな い」 おびただしい警備の中に堂々と置かれた宣伝カーの上で、次々とマイクをにぎる。大分県の女性は 「東京から川内が一番遠いから再稼働第一号になったんだと思 う。九州をバカにするな。田舎差別だ」と 叫ぶ。「自分たちのような悲劇をくりかえさないでほしい」と訴える元原発作業員、 「われわれの理解力 を超えている」と語るフランス人も。(堀切さとみ)


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