SHIRAKAWA, Fukushima Prefecture--A nonprofit organization is building a museum about Japan’s worst nuclear accident at a site located around 80 kilometers from the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.
SHIRAKAWA, Fukushima Prefecture--A nonprofit organization is building a museum about Japan’s worst nuclear accident at a site located around 80 kilometers from the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.
The plans call for opening the Fukushima nuclear disaster information center on May 19 within the grounds of the Auschwitz Peace Museum Japan, which is operated by the same NPO.
"Unless we transmit information from Fukushima, which was at the very center of the nuclear accident, people will forget about it," Mari Obuchi, 56, the museum head, said.
Group members said they hope the Fukushima facility will eventually play a role similar to the peace museums in Hiroshima and Nagasaki that have exhibitions about the devastation caused by the atomic bombings in August 1945.
The Auschwitz Peace Museum opened in 2003 in Shirakawa and displays belongings of victims of the Auschwitz gas chambers as well as photos borrowed from a Polish national museum.
The Fukushima nuclear disaster information center will be a wooden structure of about 200 square meters. Electricity will be generated through solar power.
At first, documents related to radiation borrowed from environmental protection and peace groups in the Tokyo metropolitan area and elsewhere will be displayed. The Fukushima center also plans to show a list of areas of low radiation where Fukushima Prefecture children can visit during weekends.
The NPO also plans to work together with the Kyoto Museum for World Peace of Ritsumeikan University for special exhibitions.
NPO officials are seeking donations of 100 million yen ($1.05 million) for construction costs and initial operating expenses. The phone number of the Auschwitz Peace Museum is +81-(0)248-28-2108.