The South African Civil Society Information Service
A nonprofit news agency promoting social justice. Seeking answers to the question: How do we make democracy work for the poor?
A nonprofit news agency promoting social justice. Seeking answers to the question: How do we make democracy work for the poor?
A Japanese parliamentary inquiry has concluded that the 2011 nuclear meltdown of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant was "a profoundly man-made disaster that could and should have been foreseen and prevented".
The more than 600-page report urged greater safety around nuclear plants. It also urged the Japanese government to be more transparent about its relationship with the nuclear industry. In a surprise turn, the report also leveled criticism at the Japanese culture of...
Glenn Ashton -
The technocrats are on the ascent and nuclear power is yet again on the cards for South Africa. How has the moratorium of 2008 been reversed? How can nuclear power, which was then considered an unaffordable option, suddenly have become affordable again? This is a story with many twists and turns.
The nuclear lobby is, like any major industry, well resourced. It has consistently managed to project positions, which appear logical and reasonable – that nuclear power is safe, reduces...
Russell D. Hoffman -
Glow Boys and Gamma Sponges
They call them "gamma sponges" and "glow boys." The teams are called "suicide squads."
Richard "Rich Rad" Meserve, former Chairman of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission -- and now head of a mindless Washington pro-nuclear lobbying think-tank -- calls them "jumpers" as if it were something fun to do. Or perhaps he considers the job healthy exercise. The suits are certainly very heavy, the work arduous, tedious,...
The nuclear disaster in Fukushima, Japan, in the aftermath of one of the largest earthquakes ever recorded, highlights the risks associated with nuclear plants all over the world. Harvey Wasserman, editor of NukeFree.org, weighs in on the situation.
According to Wasserman, the spent fuel outside and atop the nuclear reactors in Japan, can lead to additional explosions with huge radiation releases.
Of most concern is the fact is that one of the nuclear reactors in Fukushima uses plutonium as...
Democracy Now -
Democracy Now's Amy Goodman and Sharif Abdel Kouddous talk to Steven Clemons about the recent elections in Japan where voters have ousted the right-leaning Liberal Democratic Party, or LDP, after fifty-five years of nearly uninterrupted governance. In elections on Sunday, the populist Democratic Party of Japan captured a record 308 of the 480 seats in the lower house of parliament. Democratic Party leader Yukio Hatoyama, who is expected to become Japan’s new prime minister, has...
The suicide forest can be found in the foothills of Mount Fuji, Japan. It is difficult to be found in this forest. A phenomenon that attracts people contemplating suicide. In the past year, 170 people have committed suicide in the forest. For the vulnerable, its become a forest of fears: fear of debt, fear of loneliness and fear of failure. Yukio Sugiyama, a suicide survivor who was found in the forest says that one's occupation takes a very important place in one's life in...
