Renewable  Energy  the  future  for  the  sake  of  humanity  

It  took  a  nuclear  disaster  but  the  former  prime  minister  of  Japan  firmly  now  believes  that  renewable  energy  sources  is  the  only  future  for  our  countries.      

At  a  packed  Perth  Town  Hall  gathering  on  Sunday  the  24th  of  August,  Naoto  Kan,  the  former  Japanese  prime  minister,  described  how  it  felt  when  he  was  told  in  March  2011  of  the  potential  of  an  uncontrollable  nuclear  reaction  at  the  Fukushima  Dai-­‐ichi  nuclear  reactors.    He  faced  the  real  possibility  of  initiating  the  greatest  human  disaster  in  history,  the  evacuation  of  30  million  people  from  a  250km  radius  of  Fukushima,  which  would  lead  to  countless  deaths  and  the  destruction  of  the  Japanese  economy.    The  March  11th  earthquake  and  subsequent  tsunami  had  overwhelmed  the  safety  measures  resulting  in  a  nuclear  meltdown  and  hydrogen-­‐air  explosions  at  3  of  the  6  nuclear  reactors  at  the  Fukushima  Dai-­‐ichi  plant.    Only  through  the  dedication  of  a  small  number  of  

people  at  the  plant  was  this  humanitarian  disaster  narrowly  avoided.    

The  consequences  would  have  been  horrendous,  the  former  prime  minister  said,  as  it  was,  the  death  toll  in  the  elderly  and  sick  was  significant  in  the  comparatively  small  population  that  was  evacuated  in  the  10km  radius  of  the  Fukushima  plant.    To  envision  the  effect  on  evacuating  one  third  of  the  Japanese  population  was  a  nightmare  beyond  imagination.      

This  event  has  since  lead  to  the  closure  of  all  of  Japan’s  54  nuclear  energy  plants.    A  tightening  of  the  nuclear  regulatory  measures  in  Japan  has  meant  as  reactors  are  shut  down  for  maintenance,  they  cannot  be  restarted  unless  strict  guidelines  are  met.  So  far  none  have  been  restarted,  although  there  is  current  pressure  to  restart  one  plant.  

Much  to  the  shame  of  our  First  Peoples,  Australia  has  a  direct  responsibility  in  part  of  this  disaster  as  some  of  the  nuclear  material  used  in  the  Fukushima  Dai-­‐ichi  plant  came  from  Australia’s  Uranium  mines.    While  the  former  prime  minister  of  Japan  fully  accepted  their  responsibility  for  this  disaster,  he  acknowledged  that  Aboriginal  Australian’s  also  feel  deeply  that  part  of  their  spiritual  home  was  involved  in  creating  this  crisis.    According  to  Indigenous  leader  Kado  Muir  from  the  West  Australian  Nuclear  Free  Alliance  (WANFA),  Uranium  should  be  left  in  the  ground  rather  than  exposing  people  to  the  potential  of  such  poison.    Western  Australia  currently  has  no  Uranium  mines  active  and  WANFA  are  working  hard  with  many  community  groups  to  ensure  

"Fukushima  I  by  Digital  Globe"  by  Digital  Globe  -­‐  Earthquake  and  Tsunami  damage-­‐Dai  Ichi  Power  Plant,  Japan.  Licensed  under  Creative  Commons  Attribution-­‐Share  Alike  3.0  via  Wikimedia  Commons  -­‐    

   

that  none  are  started  up  despite  the  change  in  Government  policy  in  Western  Australia  a  five  years  ago.      

According  to  MLA  Chris  Tallentire,  the  mining  of  Uranium  in  Western  Australia  doesn’t  make  economic  or  political  sense.    The  falling  demand  for  Uranium  since  the  Fukushima  disaster  has  meant  that  mining  Uranium  has  become  less  viable  than  ever.    That  combined  with  the  increasing  demand  for  renewable  energy  sources  means  that  it  makes  less  sense  than  ever  to  mine  Uranium  in  Western  Australia.  

According  to  Naoto  Kan,  his  view  along  with  a  significant  portion  of  the  Japanese  population  has  change  towards  renewable  energy  away  from  nuclear  and  fossil  fuel  powered  energy.    The  Japanese  government  now  subsidises  renewable  energy  and  requires  utility  companies  to  purchase  from  renewable  sources  including  solar,  wind  and  geothermal  at  above-­‐market  rates.    If  Japan  can  envision  a  sustainable  energy  future,  Naoto  Kan  believes  that  Australia  has  10  times  the  opportunity  given  out  abundance  of  renewable  energy  sources.      

As  Senator  Scott  Ludlum  reminded  all  present  with  nuclear  disasters  such  as  Three  Mile  Island,  Chernobyl  and  now  Fukushima  there  is  a  start  date  but  no  end  date  to  such  events,  the  consequences  continue  into  the  future.    In  the  light  of  such  events  the  future  is  not  in  Uranium  or  fossil  fuels  being  exploited  by  energy  providers  but  must  be  in  renewable  energy.    

See  Facing  the  Fallout:  renewable  energy  in  a  post  Fukushima  world  -­‐  Naoto  Kan  https://www.facebook.com/facingthefallout  

 

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