China recommits to nuclear energy, 10 years after Fukushima
- The power source has been reinstated in Beijing’s latest five-year plan, with aim to raise capacity to 70 gigawatts by 2025
- Industry insiders say it is the only way to meet China’s carbon neutrality goals, while others point to lessons from 2011 disaster
Shrubs had taken over the surrounding paddy fields and there was a strange sense of beauty to the place. “It’s nature. It’s beautiful, but sometimes it’s sad to see this, because people worked those paddy fields for years but then, in just a few years, they turned into this,” she said.
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10 years after the Fukushima nuclear disaster, survivors are hopeful but worried
As a veteran climate and energy campaigner with Greenpeace East Asia, Suzuki has conducted continuous radiation surveys with her colleagues in Fukushima prefecture since the accident. She has also campaigned for the evacuation of children and pregnant women from high-risk areas, when people needed help to move.
While Suzuki had spent years warning people about the risks of nuclear power, she was still shocked when the disaster struck. “I had told people a thousand times a disaster would happen if there was an accident, but I still couldn’t imagine it actually happening,” she said.
“If people don’t learn from Fukushima, then there will be another Chernobyl accident or Fukushima accident in the future, so we really have to see and listen to what happened,” Suzuki said.