NB links to videos and slides will be added to this post when they become available.
The Remember Fukushima Parliamentary public meeting took place in committee room 9 in the House of Commons, Westminster, London, on 19 March 2019.
Many thanks to all who attended and helped to make it such a great evening. With enormous gratitude for Caroline Lucas MP hosting and chairing the meeting:
Caroline Lucas MP, Green Party, for Brighton Pavillion (centre)L to R: Asami Yokota, Fukushima resident mother; Kaori (interpreting); Akiko Morimatsu, Fukushima evacuee mother; Caroline Lucas MP, Green Party, Host and Chair; Dr Ian Fairlie, independant consultant on radioactivity in the environment.
Caroline Lucas’ opening speech included the following statement:
“We must never forget this catastrophe. That is why we are meeting here tonight. We must continue to counter the efforts of the Japanese Government, TEPCO, academics and official bodies to minimise its effects and to ignore the past. This, unbelievably, includes holding some events of the 2020 Olympic Games in contaminated parts of Tokyo and Fukushima Prefecture.”
Dr Ian Fairlie runs through details of how disaster struck and the catastrohe began to unfold eight years ago …
… and outlines the dire situation in Fukushima, 8 years after the catastrophe began, including 23 million 1-tonne bags of nuclear waste – ie radioactively contaminated topsoil & vegetation – piled up at 100,000 sites; melted down fuel still not retrieved; tonnes of highly radioactive water still pouring into the ocean every day; the spent fuel pools on the 4th floors of reactor buildings 1, 2 & 3, still full of dangerous highly radioactive spent fuel rods; microparticles of nuclear fuel scattered more than 100 km away from Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant – these are insoluble so remain in the environment and pose a serious risk to health if they become airborne and are inhaled.
The rest of the slides from Dr Ian Fairlie’s talk can be seen here
Asami Yokota who still lives in Koriyama, a city in Fukushima which although heavily contaminated wasn’t evacuated, speaks about her son who evacuated by himself to Hokkaido at the age of 15Akiko Morimatsu: We must fight for the basic human right to live in a healthy environment
Banner from the Kansai trial, with the same words as on the sash worn by Akiko Morimatsu: demanding the right to evacuate from radioactive contaminated areas for a healthy life and compensation for victims of nuclear disaster from the nuclear power company (TEPCO)
Ms Sonoda (who requested to not be photographed), reveals some terrible statistics …… and spoke about the beautiful life she enjoyed with her husband and child in Fukushima which was destroyed by the nuclear disaster.Citizen journalist Hervé Courtois, from France asks about the numerous incinerators being used to burn radioactive combustible debris, eg vegetation, in Fukushima, in order to reduce the volume of accumulated waste: surrounding areas are surely being further contaminated by the smoke – even if carefully filtered it is impossible to remove all the radioactivity, particularly tritium – radioactive hydrogen.Ann Garrett asks what we in the UK can do to help the victims of the nuclear disaster and change the Japanese government’s mind about hosting the 2020 Olympics, with some events planned to take place in Fukushima as if it is not still in a state of nuclear emergency.Akiko Morimatsu and her children with whom she evacuated from Fukushima to Osaka eight years ago and who she has brought with her on her tour of Europe
REMEMBER FUKUSHIMA 
Reblogged this on Fukushima 311 Watchdogs.
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