The Atomic Age is an ongoing project that aims to cultivate critical and reflective intervention regarding nuclear power and weapons. This site was launched in preparation for the symposium, The Atomic Age: From Hiroshima to the Present, held at University of Chicago on May 21, 2011. Our goal? To promote reflection on nuclear weapons and nuclear energy together, given that their separation has been axiomatic and defining for the postwar world. As we approached the symposium, catastrophe struck the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant on March 11. That crisis convinced us of the urgency of acknowledging that nuclear power plants use the same deadly technology as nuclear weapons. The crisis in Fukushima continues. Monitoring this situation, we update this site with reports on nuclear energy and its twin, the nuclear arsenal. We emphasize Japan and the U.S. but aspire for a global perspective, extending to social, political, cultural, technological, and medical domains. Updates are sent via RSS, Twitter, and our Facebook Page.
アトミック・エイジは核兵器と原発に関連する問題について批判的に考察し、行動につなげていくためのプロジェクトです。このサイトは、2011年5月21日にシカゴ大学で行われたシンポジウム「アトミック・エイジ(核の時代):広島から現在まで」の準備のため、たちあげられました。私たちは原爆(核兵器)と原発を同時に取り上げることで、同じ核産業に属しつつも、私たちの意識上乖離していることの多かったこの二つの問題が、実は同じ近代化の構造の上に成り立っていることを明確にし、それに対して何が出来るかを話し合う場をつくりだすことを目指しています。2011年のシンポジウムの準備段階で不幸にも東北大震災が発生し、福島第一原発の事故が起こりました。予断を許さない状態が続く福島の事故を念頭に、当サイトはこうした原発事故、あるいは世界の原発事情に関連する情報を随時掲載すると共に、核兵器の問題にも関与していきます。サイトの更新情報はRSS,ツイッター、またアトミック・エイジのフェースブック・ページにて受け取ることができます。
Just thought I’d bring the following link to your attention. It’s a site managed by Japan Atomic Energy Relations Organization. The foundation is responsible for promoting ‘safe use’ of nuclear power in Japan. But if you pay close attention to the rhetoric in the videos and texts regarding the Chernobyl disaster, the contradictions and careful phrasing of the ‘effects’ are bewildering.
http://www.jaero.or.jp/data/02topic/cher25/index.html
Thank you very much for this link.
Just from the sections on health effects, it’s very clear that this site promotes the minimalist version of Chernobyl’s impact on health in line with the position of the IAEA and the WHO (which apparently has to secure IAEA approval for its radiation-related health reports).
To promote “safe use” requires some recognition of danger, such as in the case of Chernobyl. But even Chernobyl, this site seems to say, was not so bad.