Longtime anti-nuclear engineer prepared to fight from within field to right wrongs

[bananas]

Hiroaki Koide is an an assistant professor at Kyoto University's Research Reactor Institute:

http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20110711p2a00m0na014000c.html

Longtime anti-nuclear engineer prepared to fight from within field to right wrongs

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An expert in radiation metrology and nuclear safety, Koide for years has rallied behind victims of radioactive materials. He served as a witness for the plaintiffs in a lawsuit seeking to revoke the construction permit given for the Ikata Nuclear Power Plant in Ehime Prefecture, and when the Tokaimura nuclear accident took place in 1999, he took on the task of measuring soil radiation levels. In another case, he was involved in estimating the number of cancer deaths in a certain area.

Ever since the disaster at the Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant emerged, Koide has voiced criticism of the government and plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) over their handling of the crisis in various forums including newspapers, television, radio and lectures. His book, "Genpatsu no Uso" (Lies about nuclear power plants) released in June, has sold 200,000 copies. He has never been busier.

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Born in Tokyo's Taito Ward, Koide graduated from Kaisei Senior High School and went on to study nuclear engineering at Tohoku University's School of Engineering, where he says he never missed a class.

"At the time, I believed that nuclear power was the energy of the future. I had it in my head that I wanted to use the incredible energy of atomic bombs for peaceful purposes," he said.

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Nuclear engineering departments at universities exist for the purpose of churning out scientists and technical experts who will go on to take a role in nuclear power generation. While some of his colleagues left the field for moral reasons, Koide decided he would stay and continue blowing the whistle on its problems.

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