Thousands of
antinuclear protesters took to the
streets of Tokyo and other cities Sunday, the first anniversary of the
earthquake and tsunami that triggered
the nuclear crisis at the Fukushima No. 1 power plant.
Near the head office
of Tokyo Electric Power Co., which runs the crippled complex, demonstrators called for the country to abandon nuclear power and restore the
prefecture, where more than 100,000 residents were forced to relocate.
In Koriyama,
Fukushima Prefecture, some 16,000 people attended an antinuclear gathering in
the city and called for scrapping
all of Japan's 54 commercial reactors, which provided a third of its
electricity before the Fukushima disaster.
In Shizuoka
Prefecture, about 1,100 people gathered to pressure Chubu Electric Power Co. to scrap its reactors at the
Hamaoka power plant.
In Fukui Prefecture,
about 1,200 people rallied against
restarting two of the reactors at Kepco's Oi plant despite government
approval of safety tests on the reactors, which were idled for regular checkups.
"What we need
to do, after witnessing how tragic
Tokyo Electric's Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant accident is, is to build a
society that does not rely on nuclear plants," said Fujio Yamamoto, who
leads a group involved in organizing the protest.
Similar protests
were held in other prefectures that host atomic plants or related facilities,
including Saga and Aomori. In the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, atomic
bomb survivors took part in antinuclear protests and urged the country to
stop relying on nuclear power.
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VOCABULARY
1.
Protester
(n) - someone who takes part in a public activity such as a demonstration in
order to show their opposition to something.
2.
Trigger
(v) - to make something such as a bomb or electrical system start to operate
3.
Cripple
(v) - to damage something badly so that it no longer works or is no longer
effective
4.
Abandon
(v) - to stop doing something because there are too many problems and it is
impossible to continue
5.
Relocate
(v) - they move to a different place
6.
Scrap
(v) -to get rid of an old machine, vehicle etc, and use its parts in some other
way
7.
Pressure
(v) - to try to make someone do something by making them feel it is their duty
to do it
8.
Rally
(v) - to come together, or to bring people together, to support an idea, a
political party
9.
Idled
(v) -to stop using temporarily [= shut
down]
10.
Tragic
(adj.) - a tragic event or situation makes you feel very sad, especially
because it involves death or suffering
QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION
1.
How many nuclear power plants are there in your
country?
2.
Do you think nuclear energy is good?
3.
Give some advantages and disadvantages of using
nuclear energy?
4.
Are you worried about nuclear energy? Why? Why
not?
5.
What are some alternatives to nuclear energy?
Explain.
