Lunch Debate
Fukushima four years later
- First hand insight from the energy expert Tetsunari Iida -
Executive director of the Institute for Sustainable Energy Policies and advisor on renewable energy to the Japanese Government
On 11 March 2011, one of the most powerful earthquakes on record hit the north-east of Japan. The resulting tsunami struck the nuclear power plant Fukushima Daiichi and heavily damaged the plant. Massive amounts of radioactive material were released into the environment. Since Chernobyl in 1986 this has been the largest nuclear disaster with far-reaching consequences.
Four years after the disaster it´s time to take stock: with Tetsunari Iida, executive director of the Institute for Sustainable Energy Policies and advisor on renewable energy to the Japanese Government. He will be able to give a first-hand insight into the current situation at Fukushima and on how the disaster impacted life in Japan: as a society and in terms of its economy and energy policy - especially, in the light of the recent controversial debate on returning to nuclear power.
The Fukushima disaster is also of significance from an EU perspective as Jan Vande Putte, energy expert at Greenpeace Belgium/Japan, will elaborate. The current discussion on the Energy Union and the growing chorus of support for nuclear as an alleged "climate-friendly" indigenous energy source underlines this fact.
When: 4th March 2015, 12:00 till 14:00 (a light sandwich lunch will be provided beforehand)
Where: Representation of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia to the EU,
Rue Montoyer 47B, Brussels 1000
Programme
Welcome
- Rainer Steffens, Director of the Representation of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia to the EU
Speakers:
- Tetsunari Iida, Executive Director of the Institute for Sustainable Energy Policies and advisor on renewable energy to the Japanese Government
- Jan Vande Putte, Energy campaigner at Greenpeace Belgium/Japan
Moderation: Rebecca Harms, Co-president of the Greens/EFA group in the European Parliament
Q &A
Conclusion
- Kathrin Glastra, Liaison Energy Transition Western Europe, Deputy Director Climate and Energy Programme, Heinrich Böll Stiftung European Union
