On Fukushima 5 year anniversary, FoEI says, Don’t Go Nuclear
Today marks 5 years since the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan. Friends of the Earth Japan is marking this occasion by holding a symposium in Tokyo. Their statement is available here.
2016 also marks the 30th anniversary of the notorious Chernobyl nuclear disaster in 1986 in Ukraine (which was part of the Soviet Union at the time). The disaster took place on 26 April 1986. The Chernobyl disaster released 100 times more radiation than the Nagasaki and Hiroshima atom bombs.
Friends of the Earth International groups from across the world join Friends of the Earth Japan in denouncing the Fukushima disaster and nuclear energy.
Many groups are also using the anniversary of the Fukushima and Chernobyl disasters to bring sharp denunciation to nuclear power – a highly dangerous, unsafe, high-cost energy source, which poses the threat of nuclear proliferation and a severe risk to human life and the environment.
The emissions created by nuclear power across its whole supply chain, combined with the time it takes for new nuclear capacity to come online, the significant up-front costs and the history of major delays in nuclear new-build projects, mean that even in the extremely unlikely event that all of the above impacts and risks could be mitigated, nuclear energy could never play a significant part in reducing carbon emissions in the tiny window we have to do so, before critical climate tipping points are reached.
Friends of the Earth Russia (Russian Social-Ecological Union) runs an active anti-nuclear program and they have a network of anti-nuclear groups across the Russian federation.
Friends of the Earth Austria (GLOBAL 2000) has been running a Chernobyl Children’s Charity for 20 years, both on the ground helping rebuild and finance a cancer ward and orphanages in the Ukraine (Karkohv region, with local partners) and also organizing visits to radiation-free Austria for children. More info is available here. In the next months, they will be using media and other ways to bring focus to the continued aftermath of this terrible disaster.
In Belgium, Les Amis de la Terre Belgique marked the day and Friends of the Earth Flanders will hold a demonstration in Antwerp tomorrow, 12th March 2016, to use the moment of the Fukushima anniversary to oppose nuclear power in their country. They will be demanding:
· the closure of the nuclear reactors of Doel (Antwerp)
· 100 % renewable energy
· sustainable jobs, also for employers of the nuclear plant in Doel (Antwerp)
Friends of the Earth groups in France, Malaysia, South Korea, Germany, and other countries are also fighting nuclear energy in their countries. On the occasion of 5 years of the Fukushima disaster, we come together to demand an end to all dirty and harmful energy, including nuclear. We demand an urgent energy revolution and energy transformation. We want justice for people affected by climate change, and support for community-owned and socially-owned renewable energy. Join the Energy Revolution!
For more information, please see: http://goodenergybadenergy.org/ and https://www.wearetheenergyrevolution.org/en/start/
