Melbourne Remembers Fukushima's Meltdown Anniversary

Today is the first anniversary of the Fukushima nuclear disaster and hundreds turned out to a rally organised by the local Japanese for Peace (JfP) group and other local organisations. The event is part of a National day of action to end uranium mining and kicked off with a performance by a Japanese Wadaiko drum group.

[Tim Wright, Campaign Director, Abolish Nuclear Weapons]:
"The problem is that often people don't make the connection between uranium mining in Australia and what's happening in Japan."

So just what is the situation in Japan right now.

[Dr Margaret Beavis, Member, Medical Association for Prevention of War]:
"52 of 54 power plants (nuclear) are currently shut down in Japan, we call for them never to be reopened again."

But is nuclear power the only way forward?.

[Margaret Beavis, Spokesperson, Medical Association for Prevention of War]:
"The economists came out just last week saying that nuclear power was no longer worth while even from a financial point of view. Why are we risking everybody's health by having this terrible power source."

Here's a word from a medical doctor who was galvanised into action by the headlines on that fateful day.

[Dr Bill Williams, Member, Medical Association for Prevention of War]:
"Half the front page dominated by this horrendous photograph that I thought I'd never ever see, I hoped I'd never ever see, of a reactor explosion,  billowing cloud of smoke and steam, and what I knew to be the case - full of radioactive toxins that would then spread across the atmosphere into the environment and into the sea."
 
So where does Japan get its uranium from?

[Dr Bill Williams, Member, Medical Association for Prevention of War]:
"Tepco, Tokyo electric power company buys 30 percent of it's uranium from Australia. So Ranger Mine, Roxby Downs, Olympic Dam and Beverly."

How should Australia face up to this problem?.

[Dr Bill Williams, Member, Medical Association for Prevention of War]:
"We need to make sure that no more Australian uranium fuels a Fukashima."
 
Is that's what's happening.

[Sue Pennicuik, MLC, Greens Party]:
"We were dismayed that the ALP (Australian Labor Party) has agreed to more uranium mining in Australia.

Tim Wright read out a statement from Yvonne Margarula, a Mirarr woman elder and the traditional owner of the Ranger Mine site. "This is an industry that we have never supported in the past and that we want no part of in the future. We are all diminished by the awful events unfolding in Fukushima."

Apparently uranium mining is not helpful to Australia's bottom line either.

[Tomahiro Matsuoka, Member, Japanese for Peace]:
"It is only beneficial to a handful of shareholders and executives of mining companies."

After the rally the protestors headed off to protest outside the head offices of Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton, the major players in uranium mining.