Fukushima is not only represented as a new Hiroshima, but also as yet another
nuclear disaster. The warnings provided by Three Mile Island and Chernobyl were
not heeded, and it was therefore no surprise that another accident occurred in Japan.
The event is all the more unacceptable as it had been foreseen. In the documentary
Japan: Nuclear energy, the sector of silence (Japon: Nucléaire, la filière du silence)
[42] the former Prefect of Fukushima presents a series of damning documents.
Workers had highlighted, well before the accident, technical problems and safety
breaches at the site. “The failings revealed by whistleblowers were never addressed.
This is what led to the accident we see today” [42]. The narrator states that these
failures and the accumulation of errors did not prevent the operator receiving, in
February 2011, authority for Reactor 1 to operate for another 10 years, although the
facility was already 40 years old.
The commentary implicitly refers to the debate taking place at the same time in
France about the Fessenheim reactor in Alsace. In April 2011, thousands of protesters demanded that this grande dame of French nuclear power be decommissioned, “A month after the earthquake and tsunami in Japan, which caused a
serious accident at the nuclear plant of Fukushima, antinuclear protestors focus on
the age of the Fessenheim plant, built in 1977, arguing that it is also located in a
seismic zone and is subject to the possible flooding of the Rhine” [43]. The documentary, Nuclear Energy: the Human Bomb [44] shows images of anti-nuclear
demonstrations. A sign held up by a young boy says “No Fukushima in Alsace”.
This prophetic message illustrates the idea of “enlightened catastrophism” [45]: the
message is that the warning provided by Fukushima should lead to the closure of
the Fessenheim plant, if history is not to repeat itself.
4.2 The Story of an Accident that Has no End
These images denounce the lack of responsiveness and the incompetence of the
actors involved in the crisis. In Nuclear Disasters, connecting car batteries to
control panels with alligator clips is not seen as an ingenious solution. It demonstrates a lack of resources and becomes proof of the amateurism of the operator.
14
Similarly, the documentary discredits Prime Minister Naoto Kan. Government
actions are labored and inefficient. For example, a helicopter is sent to spray water
on the plant. The Japanese population saw these images projected on a giant screen
and “noted with dismay the inability of their country, the third largest economy in
the world, to cool the Fukushima reactors” [36]. The sequence shows the end of the
myth of “Soviet carelessness” [47]: faced with a nuclear accident, even a great
technological power like Japan is nothing more than a house of cards.
14
On the other hand, in the testimony of Masao Yoshida, director of Fukushima Daiichi it highlights the ingenuity of teams in the field during the management of the accident [46].
What Cultural Objects Say About Nuclear Accidents …
149
nuclear disaster. The warnings provided by Three Mile Island and Chernobyl were
not heeded, and it was therefore no surprise that another accident occurred in Japan.
The event is all the more unacceptable as it had been foreseen. In the documentary
Japan: Nuclear energy, the sector of silence (Japon: Nucléaire, la filière du silence)
[42] the former Prefect of Fukushima presents a series of damning documents.
Workers had highlighted, well before the accident, technical problems and safety
breaches at the site. “The failings revealed by whistleblowers were never addressed.
This is what led to the accident we see today” [42]. The narrator states that these
failures and the accumulation of errors did not prevent the operator receiving, in
February 2011, authority for Reactor 1 to operate for another 10 years, although the
facility was already 40 years old.
The commentary implicitly refers to the debate taking place at the same time in
France about the Fessenheim reactor in Alsace. In April 2011, thousands of protesters demanded that this grande dame of French nuclear power be decommissioned, “A month after the earthquake and tsunami in Japan, which caused a
serious accident at the nuclear plant of Fukushima, antinuclear protestors focus on
the age of the Fessenheim plant, built in 1977, arguing that it is also located in a
seismic zone and is subject to the possible flooding of the Rhine” [43]. The documentary, Nuclear Energy: the Human Bomb [44] shows images of anti-nuclear
demonstrations. A sign held up by a young boy says “No Fukushima in Alsace”.
This prophetic message illustrates the idea of “enlightened catastrophism” [45]: the
message is that the warning provided by Fukushima should lead to the closure of
the Fessenheim plant, if history is not to repeat itself.
4.2 The Story of an Accident that Has no End
These images denounce the lack of responsiveness and the incompetence of the
actors involved in the crisis. In Nuclear Disasters, connecting car batteries to
control panels with alligator clips is not seen as an ingenious solution. It demonstrates a lack of resources and becomes proof of the amateurism of the operator.
14
Similarly, the documentary discredits Prime Minister Naoto Kan. Government
actions are labored and inefficient. For example, a helicopter is sent to spray water
on the plant. The Japanese population saw these images projected on a giant screen
and “noted with dismay the inability of their country, the third largest economy in
the world, to cool the Fukushima reactors” [36]. The sequence shows the end of the
myth of “Soviet carelessness” [47]: faced with a nuclear accident, even a great
technological power like Japan is nothing more than a house of cards.
14
On the other hand, in the testimony of Masao Yoshida, director of Fukushima Daiichi it highlights the ingenuity of teams in the field during the management of the accident [46].
What Cultural Objects Say About Nuclear Accidents …
149