Return to Fukushima

Thomas Bass is the author of eight books, including The Eudaemonic Pie and The Predictors, which are being made into a documentary film. A contributor to the New Yorker, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, Smithsonian, Wired, and other publications, he is Professor of English and journalism at the State University of New York in Albany.In 2018 and again four and a half years later. Thomas Bass travelled to Fukushima. The difference was dramatic. The place had been cleaned up and reopened, not fully, but little-by-little people are learning to live with radioactivity, decontaminate their fields, monitor their food, and prepare for the next wave to wash over this seismically precarious part of the world. Return to Fukushima offers a look at how to confront atomic disaster. Think of this book as a field guide to our future.

"Fascinating . . . a compelling message about a crucial question―one so crucial that it bears on the survival of the earth."—Noam Chomsky“Eloquent and haunting . . . Its searing tableau of immense destruction and decades of danger ahead is all the more relevant today as warfare sweeps back and forth across another country dotted with nuclear power plants, Ukraine.”—Adam Hochschild, author of King Leopold’s Ghost and American Midnight“Excellent . . . I would recommend this book to anyone who is as concerned as I am about the ongoing pressure of the international nuclear lobby to construct hundreds of reactors globally as the ‘answer’ to global warming.”—Helen Caldicott, co-founder of Physicians for Social Responsibility and nominee for the Nobel Peace Prize“Return to Fukushima is a powerful examination of the 2011 disaster at the Fukushima nuclear power plant and all of the missteps before and after that created this terrible tragedy. It is an indictment of the entire nuclear power industry and a warning to humanity at a time when the industry is trying to sell itself as a solution to the climate crisis."—Ira Helfand, Past President of International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, the recipient of the 1985 Nobel Peace Prize“Return to Fukushima captures the voices of people who are not just victims but survivors of this ongoing nuclear disaster. Thomas Bass has done a wonderful job in bringing their profound messages to the world.”—Caitlin Stronell, Citizens’ Nuclear Information Center, Tokyo“Japan continues to accept levels of radiation exposure for its people that are without precedent. This book explains how the Fukushima nuclear disaster is far from over and how we ignore its lessons at our peril.”—Tilman Ruff, Nobel laureate, co-president of International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War“This book is a very useful corrective to the Japanese government's immoral efforts to whitewash the Fukushima tragedy and to persuade Japanese people to accept more nuclear power. Thomas Bass is a fine writer as he guides us through this compelling story.”—Ian Fairlie, former UK official and consultant to the European Union on radiation risks from nuclear power plants“This book will show you, with remarkable concision, how Japanese officials are pushing the ‘recovery’ of Fukushima with little care for citizens’ well-being, let alone any willingness to acknowledge responsibility. So much for any "lessons" learned from the disaster, as Japan prepares to re-open its reactors and dump tons of nuclear waste into the Pacific.” —Norma Field, Distinguished Service Professor in Japanese Studies, University of Chicago“Return to Fukushima clearly, calmly, and crisply describes this vast nuclear, social, and environmental disaster, its preventable causes, its continuing misrepresentation, and why a sensible least-cost energy policy wouldn’t have adopted nuclear power in the first place."—Amory B. Lovins, Stanford University"a useful reminder...as Bass’s sensitive portrayal shows, even for those brave enough to go to these contaminated areas, life is a daily struggle..." —M.V. Ramana, author of Nuclear is Not the Solution"Bass’s book vividly illustrates how billions of dollars have been poured into reactor research and other projects, all with the promise that harnessing nuclear power can be completely safe."—Mekong Review"Thomas Bass shows how insistence that nuclear power is a safe answer to energy needs is contradicted by the reality of the Fukushima disaster’s aftermath."—CounterFire