Brian Small

.> Jinzaburo Takagi started his career of nuclear activism from a position as associate professor of nuclear chemistry at Tokyo Metropolitan University (TMU). He was born in 1938, graduated in 1961 from the University of Tokyo and spent four and a half years working for the nuclear industry and another four years for the nuclear institute at the University of Tokyo, winning the Asahi Science Encouragement Award in 1967, gaining his doctorate in 1969 and being Guest Scientist at the Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics in 1972-73. He stepped off the ladder to top status within the nuclear elite when he left TMU in 1973 and set up the non-profit Citizens' Nuclear Information Center (CNIC) in 1975. He has directed CNIC ever since, reporting on the results of their analytical and public education work through the CNIC publications including CNIC Monthly in Japanese and the bimonthly Nuke Info Tokyo in English. Takagi has conducted many researches, and has written many books and innumerable articles on nuclear issues, environmental protection and peace, with special emphasis on the fight against the nuclear threat as well as for human rights..> He was a key figure in organizing a number of important international symposiums such as "International Conference on Plutonium" (1991, Ohmiya, Japan) "Why Plutonium Now?" (1993, Tokyo, Japan), and "International Symposium on Reprocessing" (1994, Aomori, Japan). He also organized an international research project on the use of mixed plutonium-uranium oxide (MOX) fuel in light water reactors ('A Comprehensive Social Impact Assessment of MOX in Light Water Reactors' i.e. the IMA research) and served as the project leader. This project involved prominent experts from Japan, Europe, and the U.S. The results were published in Japanese, English, Russian, and French. For this research and their persistent work on plutonium issues, Takagi and the project sub-leader, Mycle Schneider, received the Right Livelihood Award - the alternative Nobel Prize - in 1997.
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.> In 1992 Takagi received the Yoko Tada Human Rights Award and in 1994 the Ihatobe Award for his practice as a scientist working for the people. He was also successful as a writer of children's books and in 1997 received the Sankei Children's Book Award. - http://www.cnic.jp/takagi/english/

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Obituary: Dr.Jinzaburo Takagi

May 21, 2023 at 11:48amWeb
Show threadBrian SmallMay 21, 2023

.> Following the IAEA 1991 report that claimed "radiation from the Chernobyl accident had almost no effect on the local population", Takagi produced a paper estimating that 100,000-200,000 extra cancers in former USSR countries are a result of this accident. To follow up, CNIC was co-organiser, with the Belarus Academy of Sciences and a number of Japanese scientists, of the 1994 Belarus-Japan Symposium 'Acute and Late Consequences of Nuclear Catastrophes: Hiroshima, Nagasaki and Chernobyl'..> In 1991 Jinzaburo Takagi invited Mycle Schneider to Japan to participate in an International Plutonium Conference. The two men started working together on the issues of waste and plutonium shipment between their two countries, a collaboration which was recognised in 1997 by the bestowal of a joint Right Livelihood Award on the two men..> In December 1995, the prototype Japanese fast-breeder reactor (FBR) had a serious accident, which the authorities tried to cover up. Takagi and CNIC were constantly quoted in the press as the scientists who could be trusted. With Japan and France hosting the two remaining large-scale interests in plutonium use, and MOX (uranium-plutonium mixed oxide fuel) being the main use for plutonium outside fast breeder reactors (FBRs), Takagi started work with Schneider on a two-year intensive international research project on 'A Comprehensive Social Impact Assessment of MOX in Light Water Reactors'.
....> In 1997 France shut down its Superphénix FBR, and Schneider edited a 32-page brochure that highlighted France's increasing isolation on nuclear policy. In Japan there was another nuclear accident, this time at the Tokai waste disposal facility, and another abortive attempt at a cover-up. With the escalating costs of reprocessing, and a MITI-imposed moratorium on fast-breeder development, public confidence in the industry in Japan decreased dramatically..> With his RLA prize money, Takagi started the Takagi School, to educate people who aim to be citizen scientists. He was diagnosed with cancer, but continued his activity under medical treatment until he died in 2000. Following his last will, the Takagi Fund for Citizen Science was founded to encourage and support Japanese and Asian citizen scientists. https://web.archive.org/web/20101130151500/http://rightlivelihood.org/takagi.html

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Right Livelihood Award: 1997 - Jinzaburo Takagi

Website of the Right Livelihood Award Foundation. The Right Livelihood Awards are annually presented in the Swedish Parliament and often referred to as the Alternative Nobel Prize.