Fukushima & Million Women Rise: Saturday 11th March 2017 was the sixth anniversary of Fukushima nuclear power plant disaster in Japan and a march called for an end to nuclear power programmes around the world including in the UK. It was also the nearest Saturday to International Women’s Day and I photographed the Million Women Rise march.
Fukushima Anniversary Challenges Nuclear Future
London
Six years on, radiation was still leaking from the plant which was damaged by a tsunami from the Tohoku earthquake. This destroyed most of the plant’s cooling system and created the world’s worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl.
Estimates of the human cost in the long-term from the radiation leaks vary considerably, but the financial cost of cleanup up has been estimated at around $180 US.
Nuclear power has never achieved the early promises of cheap energy and remains the most expensive way of generating electricity. It is now promoted as an essential backup for renewable energy when the sun doesn’t shine and the wind doesn’t blow but its importance will fade as we exploit other continuous renewable sources and cheaper storage solutions become available. And as we move away from a grid-based power system to more local generation. Should nuclear fusion ever become feasible it promises to be a much safer, cheaper and cleaner way to generate electricity.
Probably the UK’s nuclear programme was never really about energy, but about our nuclear weapons programme.
The marchers met at the Japanese embassy on Piccadilly and marched on the pavement handing out leaflets to Downing Street. I left them on the march to photograph the start of Million Women Rise and then took to tube to Westminster for the Downing Street rally.
More on My London Diary: Fukushima anniversary challenges nuclear future.
Million Women Rise Against Male Violence
Oxford St
Around two or three thousand women gathered in Orchard Street to march to a rally in Trafalgar Square.
Many carried feminist placards and there were groups from various women’s organisations around the country, including from various ethnic communities.
This was a march for women only, but most of them were very happy for me to photograph them, but I was not able to mingle freely with them as I would on most marches, and my pictures were from the sidelines or in front of the march.
I was able to take many pictures, but not always as I would have liked. But I think they are an interesting set – and here are just a few of them.
I left as the march reached Bond Street station to go back for the Fukushima rally.
Many more pictures on My London Diary: Million Women Rise against male violence,
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