Nuclear Disaster at Fukushima Daiichi: Social, Political and Environmental Issues

by Richard Hindmarsh (Editor)

Overview

Nuclear Disaster at Fukushima Daiichi is a timely and groundbreaking account of the disturbing landscape of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear meltdown amidst an earthquake and tsunami on Japan’s northeast coastline on March 11, 2011. It provides riveting insights into the social and political landscape of nuclear power development in Japan, which significantly contributed to the disaster; the flawed disaster management options taken; and the political, technical, and social reactions as the accident unfolded. In doing so, it critically reflects on the implications for managing future nuclear disasters, for effective and responsible regulation and good governance of controversial science and technology, or technoscience, and for the future of nuclear power itself, both in Japan and internationally.

Informed by a leading cast of international scholars in science, technology and society studies, the book is at the forefront of discussing the Fukushima Daiichi disaster at the intersection of social, environmental and energy security and good governance when such issues dominate global agendas for sustainable futures. Its powerful critique of the risks and hazards of nuclear energy alongside poor disaster management is an important counterbalance to the plans for nuclear build as central to sustainable energy in the face of climate change, increasing extreme weather events and environmental problems, and diminishing fossil fuel, peak oil, and rising electricity costs.

Adding significantly to the consideration and debate of these critical issues, the book will interest academics, policy-makers, energy pundits, public interest organizations, citizens and students engaged variously with Fukushima itself, disaster management, political science, environmental/energy policy and risk, public health, sociology, public participation, civil society activism, new media, sustainability, and technology governance.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781138833272
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	09/11/2014
Series:	Routledge Studies in Science, Technology and Society
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	222
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Richard Hindmarsh is Associate Professor in the Griffith School of Environment and Centre for Governance and Public Policy, Griffith University, Brisbane, Australia. His field is environmental politics and policy and science, technology and society. He is co-founder of the Asia-Pacific Science, Technology and Society Network. He has produced eight books including Edging towards BioUtopia (2008, U. of Western Australia press), and Genetic Suspects (co-edited with Barbara Prainsack) (Cambridge University Press, 2010). Current research includes GM crops; wind and nuclear energy; governance, and community engagement; and sustainability transitions.

Table of Contents

Foreword; Ian Lowe 1. Nuclear Disaster at Fukushima Daiichi: Introducing the Terrain; Richard Hindmarsh 2. Social Shaping of Nuclear Safety: Before and After the Disaster; Takuji Hara 3. Social Structure and Nuclear Power Siting Problems Revealed; Kohta Juraku 4. 3/11: Megatechnology, Siting, Place and Participation; Richard Hindmarsh 5. Environmental Infrastructures of Emergency: The Formation of a Civic Radiation Monitoring Map during the Fukushima Disaster; Atsuro Morita, Anders Blok and Shuhei Kimura 6. Post-Apocalyptic Citizenship and Humanitarian Hardware; Denisa Kera, Jan Rod and Radka Peterova 7. Envirotechnical Disaster at Fukushima: Nature, Technology and Politics; Sara B. Pritchard 8. Nuclear Power after 3/11: Looking Back and Thinking Ahead; Catherine Butler, Karen A. Parkhill, and Nicholas F. Pidgeon 9. The Search for Energy Security After Fukushima Daiichi; Jim Falk 10. The Future Is Not Nuclear: Ethical Choices for Energy after Fukushima; Andrew Blowers 11. Nuclear Emergency Response: Atomic Priests or an International SWAT Team?; Sonja D. Schmid 12. Fallout from Fukushima Daiichi: An Endnote; Richard Hindmarsh

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"Nuclear Disaster at Fukushima Daiichi is one of the first and most comprehensive social scientific analyses of the natural and human-made disaster that is Fukushima Daiichi. It brings together some of world’s leading thinkers on science, technology and society, risk analysis, energy policy as well as indigenous Japanese scholars offering an internal critical account of the reasons, actors, dynamics and implications of this disaster. This is a major scholarly contribution to an extremely pressing and urgent issue and Hindmarsh is to be congratulated in bringing together such an impressive array of scholarship in such a short space of time."

—John Barry, Queens University, Belfast

"Richard Hindmarsh has added a new dimension to the global policy debate over the safety of nuclear energy. The twelve chapters in the book provide rich sources of information and conceptual agendas. The book will become a ‘must’ for those who want to partake in this ongoing discussion."

—Akira Nakamura, Meiji University

Editorial Reviews

"Nuclear Disaster at Fukushima Daiichi is one of the first and most comprehensive social scientific analyses of the natural and human-made disaster that is Fukushima Daiichi. It brings together some of world’s leading thinkers on science, technology and society, risk analysis, energy policy as well as indigenous Japanese scholars offering an internal critical account of the reasons, actors, dynamics and implications of this disaster. This is a major scholarly contribution to an extremely pressing and urgent issue and Hindmarsh is to be congratulated in bringing together such an impressive array of scholarship in such a short space of time."

—John Barry, Queens University, Belfast

"Richard Hindmarsh has added a new dimension to the global policy debate over the safety of nuclear energy. The twelve chapters in the book provide rich sources of information and conceptual agendas. The book will become a ‘must’ for those who want to partake in this ongoing discussion."

—Akira Nakamura, Meiji University

"Nuclear Disaster at Fukushima Daiichi is one of the first and most comprehensive social scientific analyses of the natural and human-made disaster that is Fukushima Daiichi. It brings together some of world’s leading thinkers on science, technology and society, risk analysis, energy policy as well as indigenous Japanese scholars offering an internal critical account of the reasons, actors, dynamics and implications of this disaster. This is a major scholarly contribution to an extremely pressing and urgent issue and Hindmarsh is to be congratulated in bringing together such an impressive array of scholarship in such a short space of time."

—John Barry, Queens University, Belfast

"Richard Hindmarsh has added a new dimension to the global policy debate over the safety of nuclear energy. The twelve chapters in the book provide rich sources of information and conceptual agendas. The book will become a ‘must’ for those who want to partake in this ongoing discussion."

—Akira Nakamura, Meiji University

Not enough has been written about this multifaceted calamity, part of the greater 11 March incident called

3.11 in Japan. Richard Hindmarsh and his colleagues should be commended for taking on the difficult social and political aspects of the Fukushima disaster within Japan, and for shining an objective spotlight on the various official failings that magnified the crisis. It ought to be read by anyone concerned about the current state of the nuclear industry, the politics of disaster management and the nature of science and public opinion.

-Joel Campbell, Troy University, Global Campus, Japan–Korea

From the Publisher