ABSTRACT
In Nuclear Disaster at Fukushima Daiichi: Social, Political and Environmental Issues (Hindmarsh 2013), Richard Hindmarsh identified Fukushima as a “new type of major nuclear disaster marking the close interactivity of the social, technological and natural disaster” (Hindmarsh 2013: 217). Contributors to this follow-up volume, The Fukushima Effect: A New Geopolitical Terrain, have investigated the international effect of the Fukushima disaster three to four years out, when the longer-term effects are becoming more apparent. In doing so, they have identified varied downstream effects, some significant, on national histories, debates. and policy responses in the Asia Pacific region, Europe, and the US. A new geopolitical post-Fukushima terrain is apparent even in countries without a strong Fukushima effect on nuclear power development. According to the thrust of this book, contributors investigated the Fukushima effect in regard to the safety of nuclear energy, radiation risk, nuclear waste management, anti-nuclear protest movements, and civic impacts on nuclear energy, future energy mixes, nuclear power representations by a range of stakeholders, the role of media frames, and the implications of the revealed effects for nuclear power development.
