Japanese public skeptical of government efforts to reassure on nuclear safety post-Fukushima

Agence France Presse reports that an attempt to assure local residents that nuclear power is safe did not go over too well in Saga Prefecture on Japan's southern island today. The P.R. blitz by the nuclear power industry, in the wake of the Fukushima Daiichi catastrophe, has been met by skepticism and concern, NHK World reports. The area the Japanese government chose to roll out its first attempt at restoring public trust post-Fukushima, Saga Prefecture, is home to an active anti-nuclear movement. It has long campaigned to prevent the loading of plutonium fuel into Unit 3 at the Genkai nuclear power plant. Beyond Nuclear's Kevin Kamps, as part of a speaking tour across Japan, was privileged to be in Saga City last August 9th, Nagasaki Day -- and Saga City is near this city destroyed by an American plutonium bomb in 1945. He took part in a protest involving scores of people, who rallied with banners, then marched to the court house to deliver hundreds of thousands of petition signatures as a lawsuit was filed against the local nuclear utility, seeking to block it from loading experimental plutonium fuel into it reactor. The 'safety myth,' well-financed for decades by the Japanese nuclear power establishment in industry and government, has been shattered by the Fukushima Daiichi catastrophe. NHK World also reported that 50 people protested the government meeting, challenging its constrained format and obvious intent to pave the way for the restart of the nearby Genkai nuclear power plant even as the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear catastrophe drags on.