In a speech delivered in Japanese at Cornell University, Naoto Kan describes the harrowing days after a cataclysmic earthquake and tsunami led to the meltdown of three reactors at the Fukushima ...Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. In vivid language, he tells how he struggled with the possibility that tens of millions of people would need to be evacuated. Cornell Global Perspectives is an imprint of Cornell University's Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies. The works examine critical global challenges, often from an interdisciplinary perspective, and are intended for a non-specialist audience. The Distinguished Speaker series presents edited transcripts of talks delivered at Cornell, both in the original language and in translation.
In Japan's Nuclear Disaster and the
Politics of Safety Governance , Florentine
Koppenborg argues that the regulatory reforms taken up in the wake
of the Fukushima disaster on March 11, 2011, directly ...and
indirectly raised the costs of nuclear power in Japan. The
Nuclear Regulation Authority resisted capture by the nuclear
industry and fundamentally altered the environment for nuclear
policy implementation. Independent safety regulation changed
state-business relations in the nuclear power domain from
regulatory capture to top-down safety regulation, which raised
technical safety costs for electric utilities. Furthermore, the
safety agency's extended emergency preparedness regulations
expanded the allegorical backyard of NIMBY demonstrations.
Antinuclear protests, mainly lawsuits challenging restarts,
incurred additional social acceptance costs. Increasing costs
undermined pronuclear actors' ability to implement nuclear power
policy and caused a rift inside the "nuclear village." Small
nuclear safety administration reforms were, in fact, game changers
for nuclear power politics in Japan.
Koppenborg's findings contribute to the vibrant conversations
about the rise of independent regulatory agencies, crisis as a
mechanism for change, and the role of nuclear power amid global
interest in decarbonizing our energy supply.
On March 11, 2011, Japan was struck by the shockwaves of a 9.0 magnitude undersea earthquake originating less than 50 miles off its eastern coastline. The most powerful earthquake to have hit Japan ...in recorded history, it produced a devastating tsunami with waves reaching heights of over 130 feet that in turn caused an unprecedented multireactor meltdown at Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. This triple catastrophe claimed almost 20,000 lives, destroyed whole towns, and will ultimately cost hundreds of billions of dollars for reconstruction.
In3.11, Richard Samuels offers the first broad scholarly assessment of the disaster's impact on Japan's government and society. The events of March 2011 occurred after two decades of social and economic malaise-as well as considerable political and administrative dysfunction at both the national and local levels-and resulted in national soul-searching. Political reformers saw in the tragedy cause for hope: an opportunity for Japan to remake itself. Samuels explores Japan's post-earthquake actions in three key sectors: national security, energy policy, and local governance. For some reformers, 3.11 was a warning for Japan to overhaul its priorities and political processes. For others, it was a once-in-a-millennium event; they cautioned that while national policy could be improved, dramatic changes would be counterproductive. Still others declared that the catastrophe demonstrated the need to return to an idealized past and rebuild what has been lost to modernity and globalization.
Samuels chronicles the battles among these perspectives and analyzes various attempts to mobilize popular support by political entrepreneurs who repeatedly invoked three powerfully affective themes: leadership, community, and vulnerability. Assessing reformers' successes and failures as they used the catastrophe to push their particular agendas-and by examining the earthquake and its aftermath alongside prior disasters in Japan, China, and the United States-Samuels outlines Japan's rhetoric of crisis and shows how it has come to define post-3.11 politics and public policy.
In March 2011 the Fukushima nuclear power plant (NPP) in Japan was hit by an earthquake and subsequent tsunami which resulted in the release of significant amounts of radioactive material. The ...incident led to the suspension of nuclear programmes by a number of countries. This book provides a definitive account of the accident. * Outlines the main sequence of events of the 2011 Fukushima nuclear power plant accident, considers the responses of central and local government, and evaluates the response of the plant owner TEPCO * Describes and assesses the effectiveness of the evacuation process and subsequent decontamination of the site and local area * Offers recommendations for improving the safe design and operation of nuclear power plants and considers the future of the Fukushima plant and nuclear power generation in Japan
Some leading Japan scholars present new research and thinking on the profound relationship between culture and disaster in Japan, focusing on the triple disasters of March 2011, the great quakes of ...1995 and 1923, and the atomic bombings of 1945.
Japan after 3/11 Karan, Pradyumna P; Suganuma, Unryu
09/2016
eBook
On March 11, 2011, an underwater earthquake off the Pacific coast of Tohoku, Japan, triggered one of the most devastating tsunamis of a generation. The aftermath was overwhelming: communities were ...reduced to rubble, thousands of people were missing or dead, and relief organizations struggled to reach affected areas to provide aid for survivors and victims of radiation from compromised nuclear reactors.
InJapan after 3/11, editors Pradyumna P. Karan and Unryu Suganuma assemble geographers, economists, humanists, and scientists to consider the complex economic, physical, and social impacts of this heartbreaking disaster. Historical geographers place the events of March 2011 in context, while other contributors assess the damage and recommend strategies for the long process of reclamation and rebuilding. The book also includes interviews with victims that explore the social implications of radioactive contamination and invite comparisons to the discrimination faced by survivors of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings. Balancing the natural and social sciences, this timely volume offers not only a model of interdisciplinary research for scholars but also an invaluable guide to the planning and implementation of reconstruction.
After Fukushima Nancy, Jean-Luc; Mandell, Charlotte; Nancy, Jean-Luc
2015, 2014-10-15, 20141015, 2014
eBook, Book
In this book, the philosopher Jean-Luc Nancy examines the nature of catastrophes in the era of globalization and technology. Can a catastrophe be an isolated occurrence? Is there such a thing as a ..."natural" catastrophe when all of our technologies nuclear energy, power supply, water supply are necessarily implicated, drawing together the biological, social, economic, and political? Nancy examines these questions and more. Exclusive to this English edition are two interviews with Nancy conducted by Danielle Cohen-Levinas and Yuji Nishiyama and Yotetsu Tonaki.
This open access book summarizes the latest scientific findings regarding the biological effects of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant (FNPP) accident in 2011. Various cases of changes in ...animals and organisms have been reported since the FNPP accident. However, it is often unknown whether they are actually due to radiation, since the dose or dose-rate are not necessarily associated with the changes observed. This book brings together the works of radiation biologists and ecologists to provide reliable radioecology data and gives insight into future radioprotection. The book examines the environmental pollution and radiation exposure, and contains valuable data from abandoned livestock in the ex-evacuation zone and from wild animals including invertebrates and vertebrates, aqueous and terrestrial animals, and plants that are subjected to long-term exposure in the area still affected by radiation. It also analyzes dose evaluation, and offers new perspectives gained from the accident, as well as an overview for future studies to promote radioprotection of humans and the ecosystem. Since the biological impact of radiation is influenced by various factors, it is difficult to scientifically define the effects of low-dose/low-dose-rate radiation. However, the detailed research data presented can be combined with the latest scientific and technological advances, such as artificial intelligence, to provide new insights in the future. This book is a unique and valuable resource for researchers, professionals and anyone interested in the impact of exposure to radiation or contamination with radioactive materials.
Since the demise of the Soviet Union in 1991, Russia has tried to restore its lost status, prestige, and influence in the global political arena. At the same time, internal political challenges and ...international events - such as the Arab Spring and the colour revolutions in former Soviet republics - have threatened the security and the national interests of the country.Taking these challenges and opportunities into account, The Russian Military Intervention in Syria examines Russia's assertive foreign policy and its attempts to protect its geostrategic interests in the Middle East and former Soviet territory. Ohannes Geukjian analyzes the history of Russian military presence in the Middle East and the country's growing frustration with American and Western policy, revealing the objectives behind Russia's use of military power - namely, to maintain its regional influence in Eurasia and to enhance its status in the world. Geukjian provides a detailed examination of the Geneva and Astana peace processes, the geopolitical objectives of Turkey, Iran, Israel, and Saudi Arabia, and how disagreements between Russia and the United States over issues of regime change, global security, and armaments have negative implications for international conflict management.The Russian Military Intervention in Syria is an authoritative overview, based on a wide range of new and updated sources, providing a fresh interpretation and analysis of Russia's foreign policy goals and Russian diplomacy in handling the Syrian conflict.
