Thousands of anti-nuclear protesters marched in Japan today, three months after an earthquake and tsunami triggered the worst nuclear disaster in 25 years.
Three reactors went into meltdown after the massive quake hit the Fukushima Daiichi plant in northeastern Japan, forcing some 80,000 of residents to evacuate from its vicinity as engineers battled radiation leaks, hydrogen explosions and overheating fuel rods.
Company workers, students and parents with children on their shoulders rallied at multiple demonstrations across Japan, venting their anger at the government's handling of the crisis, carrying flags written with "No Nukes!" and "No More Fukushima."
The protests are likely to add to public pressure that caused a shutdown of the Hamaoka nuclear plant in May and delays to the restarts of reactors across the country after scheduled maintenance until tighter safety measures are put in place.
Currently, Japan is running only 19 of 54 reactors in operation before of the disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi plant, raising the risk of serious power shortages into 2012. Many experts say economic risks are too high for Japan to pull the plug on all of its reactors.
Analysts say the industry is facing more power rationing and the need for energy imports levies a high price on the world's third-largest economy, as Japan lacks the electricity generation capacity to substitute for the nuclear fleet.
Protesters also criticised the government for its handling of the disaster, which left more than 23,000 dead or presumed dead and laid waste to a broad swath of the northeast.
Embattled prime minister Naoto Kan, who visited earthquake-affected areas today to commemorate the victims of the disaster, last week survived a no-confidence vote by saying he would step down when the worst of the crisis was over.
That fueled uncertainty about the smoothness and the speed of recovery as there is still no agreement on how to pay for Japan's biggest reconstruction project since the years after World War Two.
Japan's anti-nuclear movement, small and ignored by the general public until the Fukushima crisis, has become more vocal, gathering increasing numbers of people to anti-nuclear demonstrations.
Voters have generally supported the role of nuclear energy and even after the accident remained divided over whether all of the nuclear power plants should be closed, polls showed.
Reuters