Restart of Ohi Nuclear Power - A Threat to
International Security
We call on all
governments and citizens of the world to stand with us and express your appeals
to Prime Minister Noda before he makes a final decision on the restart of Ohi
nuclear power.
The critical
condition of Fukushima Unit 4 is attracting international attention as the US
military and defense newspaper “Stars and Stripes,” the Washington Street
Journal and the New York Times began warning of its risks. Finally, even the
Japanese media started to report on this issue.
Since the
beginning of May, several international no-nukes and environmental
organizations such as Abolition 2000, ISDE Italia Network, and civic groups in
California have released international appeals regarding Japanese nuclear power
policy calling for a total moratorium on all Japanese nuclear power and
immediate intervention to secure the Fukushima Unit 4 spent fuel pool. On 29 May it was widely
reported by international media that radioactive cesium released from Japan's crippled
Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant have been found in bluefin tuna caught
off the western coast of the United States. It is clear that
Fukushima is not only a Japanese issue but also of international concern.
We
jointly with Green・Action and the endorsement of 72 Japanese civil
organizations have submitted our petition “An Urgent Request for UN Intervention to Stabilize the Fukushima Unit
4 Spent Nuclear Fuel” to Prime Minister Noda and UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon
on April 30. As of today, the total number of civic organizations from all over the world which have endorsed the petition has reached 324. As a
response to Prime Minister Noda’s announcement to restart the Ohi nuclear reactors, we appeal to Mr. Noda as
follows:
1.
Stop the restart of the Ohi nuclear reactors to
show that Japan is a responsible member of the international community.
2.
Acknowledge that restarting nuclear power is an
issue of a totally different dimension from the supply and demand of
electricity and take the decision to put an end to nuclear power.
Why this appeal?
1.
The Japanese government should put all its
efforts into stabilizing the Fukushima Unit 4 spent fuel pool as a top
priority.
2.
Japan as the country which is responsible for
exposing the whole world to such a risk of radioactive contamination and which
has failed to stabilize the Fukushima Unit 4 spent fuel pool is not qualified
to generate any nuclear power.
3.
The biggest nuclear threat to the world today
is not any North Korean nuclear weapon but rather the Japanese Fukushima Unit 4
spent fuel pool.
4.
The Japanese government is responsible for the
Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster, creating 160,000 radiation refugees,
exposing children to the risk of radiation, and destroying the lives of the 1.8 million
residents who remain in Fukushima. Many more Japanese outside Fukushima are
also forced to live with a high risk of radiation exposure. It is totally out
of the question that the Japanese government which has so failed its people
should restart any nuclear power, least of all, the Ohi nuclear reactors.
5.
The Japanese government has not learned from
the Fukushima Daiichi disaster. The fact that a restart of nuclear power is
being discussed as a matter of simply providing sufficient electric power in
itself proves this..
6.
A “nuclear dictatorship without ethics or
responsibility” continues to exist to this date, and it still controls Japanese
energy policy.
7.
If the restart of Ohi is forced to go ahead,
the rest of the nuclear power plants in Japan will also be restarted.
8.
Some experts are warning that another big
earthquake may happen this very year. If they are right, another Fukushima
disaster will be inevitable.
9.
As a responsible member of the international
community, the Japanese prime minister should not make a decision which exposes
the world to a new risk of radioactive contamination.
10.
What Prime Minister Noda should do as the prime minister of the country which caused such a nuclear disaster is swiftly
put an end to nuclear power. Unless such
a decision is taken, it will be impossible for the prime minister to regain the confidence of his own people or the international community.
We call on all governments and citizens of the world to stand
with us and express your appeals to Prime Minister Noda before he makes a final
decision on the restart of Ohi nuclear power.
May
31, 2012
Shut Tomari
1-2 Higashisapporo,
Shiroishi-ku, Sapporo Japan
Post Box 003-0006 TEL:+81-(0)90-2695-1937 FAX:+81-(0)826-3796
Contact Details for Prime Minister
Yoshihiko Noda
●Prime Minister’s Office TEL:+81-3-3581-0101
FAX：+81-3-3581-3883
●Diet Office TEL：+81-3-3508-7141 FAX：+81-3-3508-3441
●Local Office
TEL：+81-47-496-1110 FAX：+81-47-496-1222
_____________
Press Release: Coalition
Sends Urgent Request for UN Intervention to Stabilize the Fukushima Unit 4
Spent Nuclear Fuel, 30 April 2012
http://www.greenaction-japan.org/modules/wordpress0/index.php?p=95
