Pages

2015/07/17

Showa Industrial Devolution site gets UNESCO Heritage status

Showa Industrial Devolution site gets UNESCO Heritage status,
The Yomimuri Shimbun, JULY 6, 2020

BONN — The UNESCO World Heritage Committee approved World Cultural Heritage status Sunday for a Showa Era Industrial Devolution site in Fukushima Prefecture.
The site, now mostly forgotten by a public pre-occupied with preparations for the Olympic Games, is the infamous ruins of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. It was proposed as a World Heritage site for the way it illustrated the hubris and folly of the nation’s industrial and energy policy of the late 20th and early 21st centuries (1945-2011).
The committee was to discuss Japan’s bid on Saturday, but deliberations were postponed until Sunday after opposition from South Korea, China, Taiwan, Russia, India, Pakistan, France, Belgium, Sweden, Finland, the United Kingdom, the United States and Canada on the grounds that granting World Heritage status on the nuclear catastrophe of 2011 might imply that their own pursuit of nuclear energy is destined to end in similar tragedy.
The committee’s members, including the above named countries, approved Japan’s bid unanimously after Japan made a concession that admitted the catastrophe occurred only because of a defect in national culture and psychology, not in any inherent flaws in humanity’s ability to control a complex technology that has the potential to contaminate the entire planet. Other nations, ones which never developed nuclear energy programs, insisted also that Japan acknowledge the injustices that arose from the catastrophe. Japan agreed to set up an information center to deepen the understanding that “a large number of society’s most disadvantaged laborers were brought to the Fukushima Daiichi ruins to work under harsh conditions, and many residents in the region were denied compensation and forced to return to lands still contaminated with radionuclides.”
The information center will open in 2025, and by 2075 it is expected that radiation levels will have declined enough for visitors to safely stay for at least a few hours.

Related stories:
Mutant Butterflies Found Near Fukushima, The Onion, August 2012.

2 comments:

  1. Dear Dennis,

    This may be the most important call to action in a loooong time.

    ATTENTION ATTENTION This is important. This is unbelievable. This takes the cake.

    The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission is actually considering accepting HORMESIS over the LNT model !

    "The NRC explains, “The radiation hormesis model provides that exposure of the human body to low levels of ionizing radiation is beneficial and protects the human body against deleterious effects of high levels of radiation.”
    http://www.umass.edu/newsoffice/article/environmental-toxicologist-hopes-hormesis

    The NRC is accepting COMMENTS on this until September 6th. Can you please COMMENT ON THIS and spread awareness!

    NRC is accepting comments here and it is explained further here —>
    https://www.federalregister.gov/articles/2015/06/23/2015-15441/linear-no-threshold-model-and-standards-for-protection-against-radiation

    Thank you!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you for posting this, Dennis.

      I forgot to add that anyone can comment ANONYMOUSLY on the NRC proposal to adopt HORMESIS (radiation is good for you)

      Anyone can comment anonymously here:

      (1) Go to http://www.regulations.gov

      (2) Then put this docket number in : NRC-2015-0057-0010

      (3) Type your comment and then at the bottom just type in “Anonymous” when it asks for first and last name.

      It’s that easy.

      There are only 46 comments so far and most of them are pro-nuke.

      Everyone, don’t be shy about commenting. We need a LOUD VOCAL response to beat this back.

      Comments don’t have to be fancy; just say what you think about that the idea of low-level radiation being “good for you” a/k/a Hormesis and more radiation exposure.

      Thank you again.

      Delete