(LinkAsia: February 10, 2012)
Yul Kwon:
We continue our series of Fukushima-related stories this week. NHK says that more than 70 percent of Japanese municipalities that host nuclear power plants are cautious about restarting their reactors. The Japanese broadcaster surveyed 29 municipalities that host nuclear facilities, excluding those in Fukushima Prefecture.

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NHK World NEWSLINE
Airdate: February 7, 2012

Reporter:
Fifty-one of Japan's fifty-four nuclear reactors are currently out of operation. Restarting them would require the approval of local municipalities.

Five of them, or 17 percent, said they would give the go-ahead for the reactors to resume operation. But 21 municipalities, or 72 percent, said that they would not or that they could not yet decide.

Municipalities that expressed caution said they cannot be sure whether the reactors are really safe and cited the difficulty of persuading residents while the government has yet to decide on its nuclear policy.

Asked what is needed beside stress tests to restart the reactors, 48 percent said a satisfactory investigation into the accident at Fukushima Daiichi plant and the understanding of local residents. Thirty-eight percent cited new government safety regulations.

The municipalities stressed their concern over reactor safety and demanded more government accountability.

(LinkAsia: February 3, 2012)

Yul Kwon:

Now to Japan, where last spring's earthquake and tsunami triggered a nuclear disaster. Seventy-eight thousand people fled the area surrounding the damaged Fukushima nuclear plant. And this week, the mayor of one village called on residents to return home. But are they safe from radiation? Here's NHK with the story.

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NHK World NEWSLINE

Airdate: January 31, 2012

Reporter:

Kawauchi village is located about 20 kilometers southwest of the plant. It was evacuated last year following the March 11th earthquake and nuclear disaster. All 3,000 residents were forced to leave. The evacuation advisory was lifted in September, but only about 200 people have returned.

Yuko Endo, Kawauchi Mayor:

I am making this declaration to ask and encourage residents to return home. I am determined to overcome hardships. Let's create a safe village together.

Reporter:

Endo announced on Tuesday he will return to Village Hall in March. He says elementary and junior high schools will re-open in April. The nuclear accident forced a complete evacuation of nine municipalities in Fukushima. Kawauchi will be the first to have residents return home, but many are worried. They say decontamination work is behind schedule.

Resident:

My child wants to go home, but I'm worried about radioactivity. I have mixed feelings.

Reporter:

Another concern is jobs. There were 95 businesses in the village, but only 35 have re-opened since the quake.

Yuko Endo, Kawauchi Mayor:

The declaration is only the beginning. I'm not expecting results soon. I hope villagers come home after all radioactive substances have been removed, maybe in two or three years.

Today, on the 25th anniversary of Chernobyl, Link TV's original production Earth Focus released a detailed exposé about the possibility of a massive cover up surrounding the 1986 nuclear disaster. According to the report, international agencies, the nuclear industry, and governments all ignore critical scientific data about the real impact of the fateful accident at Chernobyl.

Authors of a new book Chernobyl: Consequences of the Catastrophe for People and the Environment say that almost a million people worldwide have died since Chernobyl-- not 4,000 as officially claimed by theInternational Atomic Energy Agency and the World Health Organization. Watch the following report for an indepth look at the real consequences of the fallout from Chernobyl -- including birth defects, mental handicaps, and diminished human intelligence -- and for how long these effects will last:

Watch more episodes of Earth Focus.

(Russia Today: 0954 PST, April 19, 2011) Protests against a proposed nuclear power plant in western India have turned violent a day after the death of a protester from police gunfire. An angry mob opposing the government plans hurled stones at forces who charged at them with batons. Activists have also blocked the road to the site by dumping burning tyres, bringing traffic to a standstill. Opposition to the plant has grown since Japan's nuclear crisis, as it's in an an area of high seismic activity.

(Euronews: 0615 PST, April 14, 2011) Japanese government scientists are concerned that another massive earthquake could be on the way. Aftershocks are continuing to shake Japan's northeast coast on an almost daily basis; on Thursday morning a tremor measuring 6.1 was registered.

"On March 11 (the day of the original earthquake and tsunami) there was an extremely large magnitude 7.7 aftershock off the coast of Ibaraki prefecture and so that's the the biggest aftershock at the present time," said Keiji Doi, Japan Meteorological Agency's head of earthquake prediction.

(Associated Press: 0430 PST, April 12, 2011) Japan raised the crisis level at its stricken nuclear power plant to 7, the highest on an international scale and on a par with the 1986 accident at Chernobyl.

(Associated Press: 0554 PST, April 11, 2011) A strong new quake and other aftershocks rattled northeastern Japan hours after the country somberly marked one month since a deadly combination of quake and tsunami laid waste to the region.