Japanese Protesters Turn Out the Lights
Three weeks ago, I posted from Japan on the approaching collision between widespread anti-nuclear power sentiment and spiking summertime demand for electricity. A full thirty percent of Japan's generating capacity resides in its idled nuclear power plants and it's getting hot out there, leading Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda to push for getting the electrons flowing ahead of likely blackouts.
TOKYO – Tens of thousands of protesters brought central Tokyo to a halt Monday, marching through busy streets to demand the government abandon nuclear power. Demonstrators, bused in from all across Japan, gathered at the capital city’s Yoyogi Park holding “No nukes” signs amid sweltering temperatures, in the largest anti-nuclear rally since the Fukushima disaster triggered 3 reactor meltdowns 16 months ago.
Monday’s event, led by Nobel-winning author Kenzaburo Oe and musician Ryuichi Sakamoto, was the latest in a string of protests that have ignited the anti-nuclear movement in Japan. Protest organizers said nearly 170,000 rallied on the national holiday, though the Tokyo Metropolitan police said the number was closer to 75,000.
I just finished Dennis Prager's book Still the Best Hope: Why the World Needs American Values to Triumph over the weekend. Infused with Prager's wisdom, I see this as a clear case of emotion--the Left is mainly concerned with feelings--trumping facts. Engineering a nationwide electric power grid is a matter of cost and risk tradeoffs, not absolute security. A dispassionate look at the Fukushima disaster--where a coast-side nuclear power plant was destroyed by the largest earthquake and tsunami in Japanese history--reveals a success story. The disaster far exceeded the design limits of the plant, literally wiping surrounding communities from the map, and yet radiation, while a lingering problem at the site, didn't kill a soul.
Let's state the fatality score clearly--Tsunami: 19,000; Nuclear Power: 0.
In the immediate aftermath of the Fukushima Daichi meltdown, many of the same people protesting nuclear power today predicted a radiologic Gotterdammerung. Didn't happen. Nevertheless, nuclear power is the problem, somehow, since it feels dangerous or warlike, or something.
I suppose even Leftist environmentalists would fail to get much public traction waving placards reading, "No More Tsunamis!"
I think this may have something to do with language. Years ago, as a physician-in-training, I was struck by a subtle but important nomenclature change. A new medical diagnostic technique, "nuclear magnetic resonance imaging" was catching on, but General Electric insisted on dropping the first word, apparently sparing itself hordes of protesters demonstrating against dangerous rotator cuff scans.
Maybe all nuclear power needs is a better name. Any ideas?
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Jun '10
Re: Japanese Protesters Turn Out the Lights
Oct '10
Re: Japanese Protesters Turn Out the Lights
NOO-cue-lar.
(H/T GWB)
May '11
Re: Japanese Protesters Turn Out the Lights
Just to give you a little local perspective, I live less than 2 miles from that park where this protest took place, this is the first I've heard of it. The protest did NOT "bring central Tokyo to a halt" that is just simply not true.
Domo
Edited on July 17, 2012 at 2:39amRe: Japanese Protesters Turn Out the Lights
Mel Foil
Yet despite all the malfeasance, we are left with one crippled power plant and a highly localized radiologic hazard. No fatalities. None.
Edited on July 17, 2012 at 2:43amMay '11
Re: Japanese Protesters Turn Out the Lights
Let's start calling it ProtonPower! Power Rangers Unite!
Jun '10
Re: Japanese Protesters Turn Out the Lights
George Savage
Mel Foil
Yet despite all the malfeasance, we are left with one crippled power plant and a highly localized radiologic hazard. No fatalities. None.
I didn't make it clear, but my point was, there's usually some mechanical danger that was predicted long enough ahead of time, and could've been fixed, but laziness or stinginess intervened in the decision to fix it. It's the humans that are dangerous.
Dec '10
Re: Japanese Protesters Turn Out the Lights
Emission-Free Fission Clean Energy.
EFFn Clean Energy for short. /couldn't resist -- please don't hurt me Editor.
Oct '10
Re: Japanese Protesters Turn Out the Lights
Perhaps utopiapower will catch on. Sounds warm and fuzzy.
Aug '10
Re: Japanese Protesters Turn Out the Lights
Here's my solution to the protests - have every protester sign a form saying that, if there are electricity shortages, he or she agrees to opt out of nuclear power. If there's not enough power to go around from conventional sources, the protestors will be the first to have their power shut off.
Let's see how many agree to that...
Feb '11
Re: Japanese Protesters Turn Out the Lights
George..."A new medical diagnostic technique, "nuclear magnetic resonance imaging" was catching on, but General Electric insisted on dropping the first word, apparently sparing itself hordes of protesters demonstrating against dangerous rotator cuff scans."
I knew that the technology had previously been called nuclear magnetic resonance, and had wondered who was the marketing genius who changed the name. Whoever it was, GE (and its competitors, and lots of patients) owes him a lot!
Re: Japanese Protesters Turn Out the Lights
Western Chauvinist: Emission-Free Fission Clean Energy.
EFFn Clean Energy for short. /couldn't resist -- please don't hurt me Editor. · 16 minutes ago
EFFn Power. I love it!
May '10
Re: Japanese Protesters Turn Out the Lights
Flower power. No, make that mushroom power. Or rather . . . um . . . never mind.
May '10
Re: Japanese Protesters Turn Out the Lights
A transition away from "nuclear power" sounds like fun. How about:
Quantum Power
Nano Power
Proto-Power
Mao = Red Power
Greenpeace = Green Power
Nuclear = Yellow Power! (Color of Uranium)
Blue Power (color of nuclear reaction below 30' of water)
Quark Power (Quarks are cool...)
Higg's Power (no one really understands the Higgs Boson, anyway).
Boson Power (Sounds strong...)
Pluto Power (everyone likes Disney...)
Star Power (Stars are very pretty nuclear power plants...)
Fissile Power (better an accurate but unknown word.
Fire-free Power
Eco-Power
Safe Power (Much safer than Tsunami Power)
Alpha Power (Radioactive decay)
Beta Power (Another radioactive decay)
Gamma Power ( sounds radioactive, even if not part of the Uranium Series )
Dec '10
Re: Japanese Protesters Turn Out the Lights
I've been saying this ever since the thing happened.
The plant did its job, above and beyond what it was designed to do.
Yes, it was destroyed, but so what? The infrastructure was destroyed, but it contained the accident and stopped any loss of life.
Any time I encounter people who are anti-nuclear power, I always ask them what kind of power they'd prefer we'd use, and without fail they always use the word "sustainable" without every really answering the questions. Most say something about wind and solar power, and then run away.
The stupids are in charge, and the stupids demand a magical answer to this actual real world problem.
They want us to generate ever greater amounts of power, without using any fossil fuel or nuclear reactors, even when the sun doesn't shine and the wind doesn't blow.
In other words, the stupids demand that we mere mortals produce for them an endless chain of miracles, and be quick about it.
When reality finally hits them in the face, it will hurt quite a lot more than it needs to, and for that I am grateful.
Oct '10
Re: Japanese Protesters Turn Out the Lights
In the 1970s, while I was living in Marin County, California (got better!), the Department of Defense decided to close Hamilton Air Force Base and make it available for other uses. This set off the kind of festival of airhead proposals you'd imagine for mid '70s Marin. I suggested that the facility be used to construct a fast breeder reactor and plutonium reprocessing plant, providing closed-cycle clean energy for the Bay Area.
My name for the facility? “Marin Renewable Energy Park”
Jul '10
Re: Japanese Protesters Turn Out the Lights
"Ethical Energy".
May '11
Re: Japanese Protesters Turn Out the Lights
The Tokyo area, has about 12,000,000 people, the greater Kanto Plain has 39,000,000 people, and I will bet you that protesters came from all over the country, not just the Kanto area, even if we use their number of 170,000 people protesting, that is about 1.4% of the 12 million, or only 0.4% of the greater Kanto plain. Not exactly a lot of people, and this was held on a national holiday, where most people had the day off, yet they can only get 1% or less to come out? It is hot and humid here right now, as usual, if we start getting brown outs and people cannot use their air con, then let me tell you the anti-nuke nuts will certainly kill a lot of people from the heat.
Mar '11
Re: Japanese Protesters Turn Out the Lights
As with many things, Japan shows the US the way - sadly, not with Thorium power, but with solar panels and turning off the power.
I will be there in a coupla weeks, and look forward to climbing up switched-off escalators and sweltering in offices with switched-off A/C at lunchtime... not.
May '11
Re: Japanese Protesters Turn Out the Lights
The solar panel thing is a farce, we have a HUGE one on top of our building, it will NEVER pay for itself, its a joke.
Feb '11
Re: Japanese Protesters Turn Out the Lights
Countries that are foreswearing nuclear power do represent a great export opportunity for US natural gas, transported of course in LNG vessels.
Maybe even Israeli natural gas, if current reports turn out to be correct.