Nuclear Disasters: Chernobyl and Fukushima covers the impacts of accidents in these two nuclear power plants with more clarity since a reasonable amount of time has passed for data accuracy. Even a country as developed as Japan failed to take the first measure after a nuclear power plant accident,

iodine tablet distribution, and it has already led to great consequences.

Did the Chernobyl experience serve as a lesson to Japan in Fukushima, a success-driven country and a firm believer in technology? In addition to this comparison, this book examines the importance of the tendencies of power holders, the effectiveness of the civil society, the politically organized structure of the medical community, the independence of scientists and the courage of journalists. There is a thin line between treason and devotion for one’s country and it is usually left to the discretion of governments. People harmed in both accidents do not need suppressed information or manipulated reports, research financed by the nuclear lobby or false hopes, but they need reliable information and support. After all, these are the taxpayers whose money is used to eliminate the effects of an accident which may take up to 300 years.

The type of the nuclear fallout, it’s half-life and its effects on plants, animals and ecosystem in general are at such a catastrophic level that even human-centered people have to take into account since radioactive particles contaminate the food cycle of humans. For those who are able to see the world from a different perspective though, the effects on blue butterflies, which already have a very short life, are also momentous. Apart from the lifetime of butterflies getting shorter or the length of their wings decreasing, mutations seen in new generations are highly worrisome for the future.

It is ironic to note that Japan, a country so dependent on technology and electricity, idled all of its nuclear power plants after the accident and has survived just well enough by restarting only five of them, despite the claims of the nuclear lobby that life would stop without nuclear energy. A significant lesson learned from all these accidents is that, just like the global climate change, nuclear power plants concern an area larger than the jurisdiction of the state that they are built in, namely they concern every living organism on this planet. Therefore, all the people who will suffer from the negative effects have the right to resist nuclear energy regardless of whichever country a reactor is built in