As the world nears the 70th anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on August 6th and 9th, some of the individuals who survived the horror of nuclear detonation are speaking out against the continued proliferation of nuclear energy.
With strong backing from President Shinzo Abe, Japan is set to restart its nuclear power program on August 10th, beginning with the Kyushu Electric Power Company’s Sendai plant in the southwestern prefecture. It will mark the first restart since the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster in 2011.
The convergence of the two events has prompted a number of Japanese survivors to come forward.
“I think that since the risk of nuclear power and the fact that human beings cannot control it has become clear, none of the reactors should be restarted,” 87-year-old Atsushi Hoshino told Reuters, speaking from his home in Fukushima City, which is roughly 37 miles from the Fukushima Daiichi plant.
Hoshino said that until the recent disaster he “felt somewhat uncomfortable about nuclear power, but … was in a situation where it wasn’t possible to oppose it.”
Japan is not alone in its support of nuclear energy. Often framed as a “green” alternative to fossil fuels, nuclear power stations are in operation in more than 30 countries, with more being built.
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