The Fukushima nuclear disaster showed us once again that
nuclear reactors are fundamentally dangerous. Not only do they cause
significant damage to the environment, the health of populations and to
national economies, the heavy financial cost of a meltdown is inevitably borne
by the public, not by the companies that designed, built, and operated the
plants. None of the world’s 436 nuclear reactors are immune to human errors,
natural disasters, or any of the many other serious incidents that could cause
a disaster. Millions of people who live near nuclear reactors are at risk.
The lives of hundreds of thousands of people continue to be
affected by the Fukushima nuclear disaster, especially the 160,000 who fled
their homes because of radioactive contamination, and continue to live in limbo
without fair, just, and timely compensation. They have only a false hope of
returning home, yet the Japanese government is eagerly pushing to restart
reactors, against the will of its people, and without learning true lessons
from Fukushima.
