Japan Political Pulse: Speaking out against nuclear power

[yuiyoshida]

Hiroaki Koide, assistant professor at the Kyoto University Research Reactor Institute, is set to retire at the end of this month as he has reached the retirement age. A hero of anti-nuclear power advocates, 65-year-old Koide is regarded as a hateful agitator by the pro-nuclear energy camp. Koide labels himself as a loser, who failed to stem nuclear energy.

On Feb. 27, he delivered a speech commemorating his retirement at the research institute in Kumatori, Osaka Prefecture, where he has worked for 41 years. "I will retire in stages," he declared to the audience. "But I won't be backing down that easily," he later commented at a gathering, receiving a round of applause from attendants.

It's been almost four years since the onset of the Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant disaster. Koide's continuing popularity must be a reflection of the reality that no one believes in the myth that "the situation is under control" at the crippled Fukushima plant.

Koide wrapped up his 90-minute speech by saying, "I had been foolish enough to dream of the peaceful use of nuclear energy. (Ever since I realized that mistake) I've been hoping to somehow stem it, but the organization promoting nuclear energy is too colossal, and I've kept losing. I sometimes wonder what on earth I've been living for."

http://mainichi.jp/english/english/perspectives/news/20150302p2a00m0na012000c.html