Public opinion has taken a sharp turn against nuclear power in Japan, following a tragic September accident at a nuclear fuel plant in Tokaimura that exposed scores of people to high levels of radiation and killed one worker. Public protest has not been common in Japanese society for well over a generation, but local movements on behalf of consumer interests and the environment have been springing up in recent years, and now, in the aftermath of the Tokaimura accident, small citizens groups have sued power companies to prevent the use of a new type of plutonium fuel and petitioned local governments to block nuclear plant construction. Some local political candidates have even begun running for office on the issue of blocking nuclear expansion.
