[ RadSafe ] Has Anyone Read this new book - Yoshida’s Dilemma: if it wasn’t for one man, it could have been much worse

[Roger Helbig]

This looks like a pretty interesting book.

http://www.yoshidas-dilemma.com/

Roger Helbig

New post on nuclear-news

Yoshida’s Dilemma: if it wasn’t for one man, it could have been much worse

by dunrenard

March 11, 2011. A magnitude 9 earthquake rocks Japan and triggers a
mega-tsunami that kills thousands of people. It also knocks out the
power at Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant and triggers one of the
worst nuclear accidents in history.  If it wasn't for one man, it
could have been much worse.

"Rob Gilhooly has written what is probably the most comprehensive
English-language account yet of the Fukushima nuclear meltdown.
Gilhooly is among the best-informed foreign reporters on this issue in
Japan, having travelled to Fukushima several dozen times since being
one of the first journalists to arrive in the prefecture on a freezing
night in March 2011.  He gives the story of Masao Yoshida, perhaps the
key figure in the disaster, all the detail, sympathy and pathos it
demands.  His remarkable pictures throughout the book are a bonus.
Highly recommended. "
— David McNeil, The Economist.

“A powerful synthesis of the technical and the personal, Gilhooly
succeeds in conveying the events of March 2011, its aftermath and the
dramatic impact on the people of Fukushima and wider Japan. Six years
after the start of the accident, Yoshida’s Dilemma is a necessary
reminder of how through the actions of heroic individuals and luck
Japan avoided an even greater catastrophe.”
— S. David  Freeman, former Tennessee Valley Authority chairman,
engineer, energy expert and author of Energy: The New Era and Winning
Our Energy Independence
"As one of the few journalists to have covered the Fukushima story
from the very start, Rob Gilhooly is perfectly placed to discuss the
disaster's causes and aftermath, and its wider ramifications for the
future of nuclear power. From the chaotic scenes as the plant went
into triple meltdown, to the plight of evacuated residents and Japan's
long and troubled relationship with atomic energy, Gilhooly combines
fine story-telling with journalistic integrity to produce a book that
is admirably free of hyperbole.”
— Justin McCurry, The Guardian.

In Yoshida's Dilemma, Rob Gilhooly, a long-term resident of Japan who
has worked extensively as a journalist and photojournalist, has
assembled a wealth of material, ranging from the reminiscences of the
then Prime Minister of Japan, Naoto Kan, to the stories of those who
worked to save the nation from disaster when the massive earthquake
and tsunami hit the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.

This real-life thriller concentrates on Masao Yoshida, the director of
the plant, who inspired his "troops" to risk their lives as they
battled the invisible enemy of radiation, but also tells of those
living nearby, who were forced to give up their homes and lifestyles
which had been enjoyed by their families for generations, as power
companies and bureaucrats dithered and obscured the facts surrounding
the worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl.

While Gilhooly is careful not to take sides in the pro- and
anti-nuclear power debate, the almost inescapable conclusion is that
nuclear power is a highly dangerous technology – maybe even too
dangerous to be employed using the current Japanese business model,
where the "nuclear village" shuts out criticism, and even knowledge,
of its often dangerous operational practices and decisions. Yoshida's
Dilemma provides a wake-up call to other nations with nuclear power,
whether or not they are subject to the kind of natural disaster that
destroyed Fukushima, and a must-read introduction to the way in which
such technology is managed and promoted, not only in Japan, but in
other countries.

Main areas covered:
– The story of the nuclear crisis, as experienced by the workers at
the nuclear plant, the firefighters and other emergency units who
battled to bring the melting reactors under control and officials in
Tokyo, such as then Prime Minister Naoto Kan, charged with responding
to the disasters
– The impact of the crisis on residents and their evacuation from
their homes near the plant
– US response, including efforts by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission
to cooperate with TEPCO and Japan’s nuclear watchdog, the NISA
– Historical and cultural perspectives on nuclear power in Japan,
including the launch of the Atoms For Peace expo and other efforts by
the nuclear energy lobby, sometimes referred to as the “nuclear power
village,” to win over the Japanese public
– Insights from experts about technical aspects of the nuclear accident
– A look at what might have happened had the worse-case scenario played out
– Anti-nuclear protests, including efforts by communities housing
nuclear facilities to prevent those facilities from being re-started
– The real cost of the disasters, including the financial burden and
the health impacts uncovered
–  An examination of the true cost of nuclear power, which was widely
promoted in the US and Japan as being “too cheap to meter”
– The future of nuclear power in Japan and nuclear power’s position in
a country often perceived as being resource-poor
– The future of new energies in Japan and the nation’s increasing
reliance on coal-fired power stations
http://www.yoshidas-dilemma.com/

dunrenard | April 3, 2017 at 11:26 pm | Tags: 311, Book, Fukushima
Daiichi, Masao Yoshida, Nuclear Disaster | Categories: Fukushima 2017
| URL: http://wp.me/phgse-uL0