"In Fukushima, I found a society collapsing under the weight of industrial pollution. But that’s only part of the story. I also found toxic solidarity.

Rather than giving up, Tanizaki and other farmers have taken matters into their own hands, embracing novel practices for living alongside toxic pollution. These practices go far beyond traditional ‘farming’. They involve weaving relationships with scientists, starting independent decontamination experiments, piloting projects to create food security, and developing new ways to monitor a changing environment. Among rice fields, orchards and flower beds, novel modes of social organisation are emerging – new ways of living from a future we will one day all reckon with." (....)

"Complicating the binary between those working with or against contamination, toxic solidarity has been encouraged by the same organisations responsible for the disaster. For example, Japanese state ministries and nuclear-related organisations have increasingly encouraged returnees such as Tanizaki to become responsible for keeping their dose of radiation exposure as low as possible. In this way, safe living conditions become the responsibility of citizens themselves, as tropes of resilience are conveniently deployed by the state, and financial supports for disaster victims are gradually cut off. Those who refuse to participate in these projects have been labelled hikokumin (unpatriotic citizens), who hamper the revitalisation of Japan. What we find in this co-option is an unreflexive celebration of farmers’ resilience – a celebration that serves the status quo and the vested interests of state agencies, corporate polluters and nuclear lobbies. Through this logic, disaster can be mitigated, free of charge, by the victims themselves." (...) (Maxime Polleri, aeon, 15. December 2022)

Maxime POLLERI: "His Ph.D. thesis focused on the governance of radiation hazards after the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster. His fieldwork took place in urban and rural areas of Japan, predominantly in Fukushima and Tokyo. His research was funded by the Ontario Graduate Scholarship, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, and the Japan Foundation, among others.From 2020 to 2021, Dr. Polleri was a Post-doctoral Researcher at McGill University, as part of the “EPI-AI Project,” a Canadian-UK Artificial Intelligence grant initiative that aims to achieve a step change in automated global epidemic alerting using news media monitoring. In 2021, Dr. Polleri joined the Department of Anthropology in the Faculty of Social Science at Université Laval. He is also a member of the Graduate School of International Studies." (maximepolleri.com/about)

"Das japanische Energieunternehmen TEPCO hat am 15. April damit begonnen, die ersten Brennelemente zum Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Kernkraftwerk zu transportieren. Das Atomkraftwerk wurde ein Jahr nach der Fukushima-Katastrophe von 2011 stillgelegt und soll nun reaktiviert werden."  (INGENIEUR.DE)

"Im Januar gab TEPCO bekannt, dass Tests mit einem Roboterarm zur Entfernung von radioaktivem Material aus Reaktor Nr. 2 aufgrund technischer Probleme erneut verschoben werden müssten. Nun soll der ferngesteuerte Roboter im Oktober 2024 in Betrieb genommen werden - drei Jahre nach dem ursprünglichen Zeitplan.

Auch andere Bereiche des Projekts standen vor Herausforderungen: Die ersten Drohnen und ein Roboter, die Anfang des Monats in das Reaktorgebäude Nr. 1 geschickt wurden, wiesen Störungen auf und mussten abgezogen werden. Sie sollten aus dem Reaktor ausgetretene geschmolzene Brennstoffreste lokalisieren und andere Schäden kartieren.

TEPCO behauptet jedoch, es würden stetige Fortschritte erzielt und das 30- bis 40-Jahres-Ziel für die Stilllegung sei weiterhin realisierbar. "Wir kommen mit jeder Aufgabe, die zur Erreichung des Hauptziels erforderlich ist, sicher und stetig voran", erklärt das Unternehmen gegenüber der DW. "  (dw, Julian Ryall, 3. März 2024)

"As of the end of 2021, the total amount of separated plutonium both managed within and outside of Japan was approximately 45.8 tons, approximately 9.3 tons of which was held domestically and the rest of approximately 36.5 tons was held abroad." (IPFM BLOG)

"South Korea, Japan and the United States staged long-planned joint naval exercises involving an American aircraft carrier to ensure readiness against nuclear and missile threats from North Korea, Seoul's navy said on Friday. North Korea has been accelerating weapons development, testing solid-fuel hypersonic missiles last week, and leader Kim Jong Un said on Wednesday now was the time to be more prepared for war than ever, citing an unstable geopolitical situation." (Reuters)

"Nordkorea hat laut Angaben des südkoreanischen Militärs mehrere Raketen abgefeuert. Die Raketen seien nach dem Start am Montagmorgen (18. 3.) in der Region um die Hauptstadt Pjongjang etwa 300 Kilometer weit geflogen, teilte der Generalstab in Seoul mit. Sie seien zwischen der koreanischen Halbinsel und Japan ins Meer niedergegangen. Es handele sich vermutlich um ballistische Kurzstreckenraketen. Weitere Daten würden noch ausgewertet. Japan habe drei Raketen erfasst, berichtete die japanische Nachrichtenagentur Kyodo unter Berufung auf das Verteidigungsministerium in Tokio." (NZZ)

Links: https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/south-korea-japan-us-hold-naval-drills-amid-nkorea-threats-2024-04-12/  (Reuters, 12. April 2024)

https://www.nzz.ch/international/atomstreit-mit-nordkorea-die-aktuellen-ereignisse-ld.1399947 (NZZ, 28.März 2024, Auszug /zugangsbeschränkt)