BOB Marley’s granddaughter, Donisha Prendergast, has joined forces with Japanese actress Miyuki Matsuda in a campaign against nuclear energy.

The pair, who met in October last year when they were guests aboard the sea vessel Global Voyage, say they intend to dissuade the Jamaican Government from foraying into nuclear energy, given the great potential for irreversible damage to humans and the natural environment.

Energy Minister Philip Paulwell has repeatedly outlined his vision for the liberalisation of the local power-producing sector, saying nuclear energy has to be part of the mix.

Nuclear power is generated through forcing the core of a uranium atom to split — called nuclear fission — thus triggering a chain reaction that splits more atoms. The process produces a lot of heat, which is used to convert water to steam that, in turn, drives a turbine which produces electricity.

It does not produce as much waste as fossil fuels, and so would cause less pollution as it does not lead to acid rain or greenhouse gases that cause climate change.

However, that the waste remains dangerously radioactive for thousands of years has been a prevailing cause for concern.

“Because we have faced the problem of nuclear radiation in Japan, we are strongly against the building of a nuclear power plant in Jamaica,” Matsuda told the Jamaica Observer through her Japanese interpreter Arata Otake, recently. “I flew here, I came here with my own money to call for not having a nuclear power plant in Jamaica.”

“As a citizen of Japan, which has experienced the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, we are now faced with a problem of nuclear power plant accidents… So, because Japan is a country that is facing a nuclear crisis, we are here to appeal to Jamaicans who are trying to import nuclear energy/technology [from] Japan.

She said she became an activist against nuclear energy after March 11, 2011. That was the date of the 9.03-magnitude Great East Japan Earthquake, which Japan’s main island (Honshu) 2.4 m (8 ft) to the east and shifted the Earth on its axis by estimates of between 10 cm (4 in) and 25 cm (10 in). It triggered a massive tsunami which, in addition to other events, caused level-7 meltdowns at three nuclear reactors in the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant complex. Hundreds of thousands were ordered evacuated as a result. Over 15,000 deaths, more than 6,000 injuries, and close to 3,000 missing cases were reported.

According to Matsuda, who is the widow of actor Yusaku Matsuda, she is one of few actresses in her home country who publicly denounces the ill effects of nuclear energy.

“My husband is also a very, very famous actor in Japan. He unfortunately passed away when he was young, like Bob Marley,” said the actress of 35 years, who has been an activist against nuclear energy for the past year-and-a-half.

As for Prendergast, who has been engaged in cultural activism for some time, raising awareness about the negative effects of nuclear energy is critical.

“We have to try and see how we can get the message out there and raise awareness. We both realise that Japan and Jamaica have a very strong connection. ‘J-A’ is at the start of both of them — Japan and Jamaica. So we thought that by bringing our two voices together, we could accomplish a lot. And that’s what we are trying to do, at our own expense,” she said of the collaboration with the Japanese actress.

Recounting how they met, Prendergast told Environment that she and Matsuda got the idea as they made presentations on the ship.

“I was lecturing for about 10 days about different issues affecting Jamaica and she (Matsuda) was talking about nuclear energy. And I remember I went to Japan earlier this year in June, and I went to visit the affected areas and was shocked at what I saw… People walking around with masks, people walking around with radiation detectors like (they were) cellphones. It was very shocking to me. And then to come home to hear that our Government is thinking about investing in nuclear energy… We just can’t allow it,” Prendergast said.

“And so these Japanese ladies were on the same boat as I was, sailing across the world in the peace boat, and I invited them to stay for a few days.”

Prendergast did four lectures on the peace boat. The first was on Bob Marley’s life and legacy, the second was on Jamaica, the third, on Rastafari, and the fourth was on the concept of ‘one love’.

Fast facts about nuclear energy

* Nuclear energy comes from uranium, a non-renewable resource that must be mined.

* There are over 400 nuclear power plants worldwide.

* Nuclear power plants use nuclear fission (the process of splitting of an atom in two). Nuclear fusion (the process of combining atoms into one) has the potential to be safer energy because it is produced at a much lower temperature. However, nuclear fusion technology has not yet been developed to operate within a large power plant.

* Every 18 to 24 months, a power plant must shut down to remove its spent uranium fuel, which has become radioactive waste.

* That waste must be stored in special containers and buried beneath the earth’s surface, typically in a mountain, until it is no longer hazardous.

* Nuclear energy produces less waste than fossil fuels (such as oil and coal).

*In 2008, nuclear power replaced an estimated 690 million metric tons of carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere.

* Nuclear explosions can release high levels of radiation, which can damage DNA.

* While areas around a nuclear explosion are immediately exposed, radiation can also remain in the atmosphere for decades and can travel great distances before it settles to ground-level air or the earth’s surface.

* Disposing of one’s outer clothing can remove up to 90 per cent of radioactive material after a nuclear disaster.

* Nuclear power plants produce about 20 per cent of America’s power, and almost three million Americans live within 10 miles of an operating nuclear power plant.

* The United States and Russia possess the majority of nuclear warheads in the world. Other countries known to have nuclear weapons are China, France, the United Kingdom, Israel, India, and Pakistan.

Nuclear accidents in history

* In August 1945, the United States dropped two atomic bombs on the Japanese cities Hiroshima and Nagasaki, marking the world’s first disastrous impact from nuclear energy.

* In 1957, the United Nations created the International Atomic Energy Agency, an organization to promote peace and safety regulation standards with nuclear technologies.

* The first nuclear accident on American soil occurred in Idaho in 1961, killing three workers.

* In 1979, there was a nuclear accident on Pennsylvania’s Three Mile Island. The disaster exposed two million nearby residents to low-risk radiation (less than the strength of an x-ray).

* The worst nuclear power plant accident in history occurred in the Ukraine in 1986 when explosions at the Chernobyl Power Plant killed 30 workers and caused the relocation of 300,000 residents. In subsequent years, thousands of children who had lived near the plant developed thyroid cancer.

* In 1987, an abandoned radiation therapy machine in a junkyard in Brazil broke open and released radioactive cesium chloride. Attracted to its blue colour, children rubbed it on their skin and returned home, exposing 240 people in their communities to radiation.

* Japan has had three nuclear power plant accidents since 1999. The most recent one — in 2011 at the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant — occurred after a 9.0-magnitude earthquake and subsequent tsunami damaged cooling systems.

(Source: WHO/EPA/IAEA/WNA)