Remembering "lessons learned" from the Fukushima Daiichi catastrophe

As we enter the fourth year since the beginning of the 3/11/11 nuclear-earthquake/tsunami in Japan, it is important to remember major lessons learned.

For example, in July 2012, the Japanese Parliament (the Diet) published a major report about the root causes of the Fukushima Daiichi catastrophe, prepared by the NAIIC (Nuclear Accident Indepedent Investigation Commission) it launched -- the first such independent investigation in the Diet's history. The NAIIC concluded that the root cause of the catastrophe -- the reason the nuclear power plant was so fatally vulnerable to the natural disasters -- was collusion between the nuclear power industry, the so-called safety regulatory agencies, and elected officials.

Frighteningly, the U.S. has the very same problem, as detailed in Dave Lochbaum, Ed Lyman, and Susan Stranahan's new book, Fukushima: The Story of a Nuclear Disaster.

Then, on March 11-12, 2013, marking the second anniversary, the Helen Caldicott Foundation and Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR) sponsored a symposium at the New York Academy of Medicine on the medical and ecological consequences of the Fukushima nuclear catastrophe. Beyond Nuclear's Cindy Folkers ("Post-Fukushima Food Monitoring in the U.S.") and Kevin Kamps ("70 Years of Radioactive Risks in Japan and America") made presentations there. The entire video of the two-day event is watchable online, as are Cindy and Kevin's Power Point presentations.