Fukushima as Manufactured Disaster

 They may not live in castles anymore, but the glass-plated skyscrapers that tower over the great cities of the world, in faceless anonymity, still signify the imperious domain of the ruling elite.  It is from these places, not the featureless depths of the earth’s roiling crust, which were the decisive cause of the triple nuclear meltdowns at the Fukushima-Daiichi plant on 11^th March 2011.

Contrary to all the talk about “an unforeseeable event” from governments around the world and nuclear apologists of the left and right, the nuclear meltdowns, with all their untold and long-term consequences for the physical and mental health of the people of the region, were entirely preventable if the corporation which operated the plants, TEPCO, or the government bodies charged with regulating the nuclear industry, NISA and METI, had taken the appropriate safety precautions:


Ultimately, we get to the heart of the matter: “As the nuclear power business became less profitable over the years, TEPCO’s management began to put more emphasis on cost cutting and increasing Japan’s reliance on nuclear power.”

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Fukushima as Manufactured Disaster » Counterpunch: Tells the Facts, Names the Names