I sent my signature and additional remark, of course; it's unquestionably the least we can do.

I am saddened that the government (and of course TEPCO) is continuing to try and proclaim an extremely unsafe situation to be "not immediately injurious."  This reminds me of the man who fell off the Empire State Building - somewhere around the 20th floor someone asked him how he was, and he said "I'm fine so far."  Of all nations to minimize the effects of radiation, I would not have dreamed it would be Japan.

You are probably already aware of this, but for those who are not, TEPCO has a long history of inadequate inspections and lying about them.  They have consistently been fraudulent in their maintenance and reporting thereof.  They have continued this practice at the worst possible time:  when we know there is something wrong, and we need accurate data more than ever.

I was shocked when the US government carefully (to avoid offending our good ally) noted that we would have put a larger boundary around the plant than the Japanese government did.  That indicated to me just how significantly things were being "whitewashed" (that is, painted over positively) - that we felt compelled to contradict the Japanese government publicly, no matter how politely it was done.

It seems almost presumptuous to accept your apology given the contamination unleashed by American bomb tests and our own failures.  (See, for example, SL-1:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SL-1, and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gIBQMkd96CA)  Especially since even Obama appears to feel that we are compelled to start building nuclear plants for the first time in over 30 years.

Personally, I wish we could make some progress on fusion power.  

Coincidentally, right before this terrible event occurred, I had read a book called Atomic Awakening, by nuclear engineer James Mahaffey, which is a history of atomic energy that makes the case that we need nuclear energy and need to improve the technology around it, but nevertheless is quite upfront about the dangers and past disasters and deaths.  I found it illuminating, fascinating, and horrifying in about equal percentages, and I recommend it highly for those who want to know more about nuclear plants.  So I went looking for what he had to say, and found a reference to a speaking engagement on it on Facebook:

"The reactors used at Fukushima have a history that goes back to 1952, and nuclear power plant safety concerns and emergency plans have been studied since 1957. There are reasons why this particular plant, among 17 in Japan, had continuous emergencies when none of the others did. Japan's continued nuclear power expansion may not be deterred by this natural disaster, and there are reasons for that as well."

My sympathies for your troubles, Kino.

Best wishes,

Steve