Tens of thousands rally in Japan to end nuclear power

31/07/2012 5:07:52 p.m.

Suli wrote:

The nuclear industry is hellbent on selling reactors to many 3rd world countries now. In the next 10 to 15 years it is expected that that there will be a proliferation of nuclear power plants in places like Africa, Indonesia and many other places where unstable infrastructures, corrupt governments and poor safety standards are likely to result in nuclear catastrophies on a much larger scale the Chernobyl. If places such as Indonesia get nuclear power then Australia and NZ will get fallout when (not if) an accident occurs. Unlike chemical or biological accidents, nuclear accidents affect populations for thousands of years due to the longevity of the fallout, causing , cancers, birth deformities and other illnesses. Then there is the issue of the nuclear waste which stays active for hundreds of thousands of years, it needs to be safely stored until it decays to acceptable levels. Can you imagine how countries with extremely poor safety records and corrupt governments would dispose of such waste? it doesn't bear thinking about. All this in the name of greed, and I certainly agree with Gary's comment. When corporations are prepared to kill and damage millions / billions of people for quick profits and show total disregard for the hundreds of future generations they will poison with their technologies, in my opinion this puts them way past any of the atrocities which the Nazis committed because the scale of devastation will be far more over time than anything which has happened in the past. But we do nothing to stop them, people are sucked in by quick solutions to generating power, it's kind of like credits cards (buy now , pay later) and we will pay very dearly. I commend the Japanese people for their stance on nuclear power, the alternatives need time and investment, but in the long run are much safer.

17/07/2012 9:03:12 a.m.

Gary wrote:

As the worlds population explodes and our greedy nature for more and more of everything puts greater demand on the supply for more energy, nuclear power becomes essential. We stick to the same model, large corporations making money for themselves and governments so why change?? We have the technology to use natures resources but not the desire. Why not build all houses with their own solor panels and small wind turbines. Collect rain water into tanks. Their are lots of possibilities but do we really want to change?? Probably when it is too late we will all look back and say what we should have done!! Money is our new god that we all worship and bow down to, so until this changes everything else will remain the same.