NO NUKES EVER EVER AGAIN (HOPEFULLY)

Lanterns for 140,000 'spirits': Hiroshima marks anniversary of A-bomb as Japanese PM admits he 'regrets' nuclear power

By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 6:40 PM on 6th August 2011

The Japanese city of Hiroshima on Saturday marked the 66th anniversary of the bombing, as the nation fights a different kind of disaster from atomic technology - a nuclear plant in a meltdown crisis after being hit by a tsunami.
The site of the world's first A-bomb attack observed a moment of silence at 8.15am today - the time the bomb was dropped on August 6, 1945, by the United States in the last stages of World War II.

Memorial: Paper lanterns float down the Motoyasu River in Hiroshima to mark the 66th anniversary of the bombing

The bomb destroyed most of the city and killed as many as 140,000 people. A second atomic bombing August 9th that year in Nagasaki killed tens of thousands more and prompted the Japanese to surrender.
Prime Minister Naoto Kan on Saturday laid a wreath of yellow flowers at Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park and reiterated Japan's promise to never repeat the horrors of Hiroshima, whose suffering continues today because of illnesses passed down over generations.

Light in darkness: The lanterns lit up the city, which was devastated by the atomic bomb 66 years ago

Moving journey: The lanterns can be seen winding round the river bend, past the Atomic Dome near Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park

Messages of peace: The lanterns contained special pictures and messages

Japan has long vowed never to make or possess nuclear weapons, but embraced nuclear power as it aimed to rebuild and modernise after the war.
Crowds of people clutching Buddhist prayer beads bowed their heads Saturday in commemorating the dead as pigeons were released during the solemn gathering repeated every year before the skeletal dome of a bomb-ravaged building.

Solemn: Pigeons are released during a ceremony held every year to commemorate the dead

The prime minister, in his speech, also touched on Japan's more recent nuclear catastrophe at the northeastern Fukushima Dai-ichi power plant, where a massive tsunami set off by a 9.0 magnitude earthquake on March 11 knocked out backup generators that powered the plant's cooling mechanisms.
Kan repeated a promise to embrace renewable energy and rely less on nuclear power.

March: Demonstrators raise placards to protest against nuclear power and weapons and they file past the A-bomb dome

Never forget: Banners call for an end to nuclear weapons

'Japan is also working to revise its energy policy from scratch,' Kan said. 'I deeply regret believing in the security myth of nuclear power.'
Hiroshima mayor Kazumi Matsui stopped short of calling for a nation without nuclear power while reiterating his pledge to work toward a world without atomic weapons.
But he acknowledged that the trust people had in the safety of nuclear power had been damaged.
'Some seek to abandon nuclear power altogether with the belief that Mankind cannot co-exist with nuclear energy, while others demand stricter regulation of nuclear power and more renewable energy,' he said.
 

Memorial: Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan (centre) makes a speech during the service to commemorate those who lost their lives

Remembrance: Mourners at the Peace Memorial Park in Hiroshima light candles to remember the victims of the 1945 atomic bombing

The memory lives on: All generations come together to pray for the victims of the atomic bombing after burning incense in the memorial park

Vigil: Buddhist followers parade with lanterns in their hands in prayer for peace on the eve of the 66th anniversary of the bombing

Devastation: A man looks over the expanse of ruins after the explosion of the atomic bomb in 1945. The skeletal dome of a bomb-ravaged building where the memorial service was held today is the only building that can be seen still standing