Overcoming Fukushima’s Nuclear Crisis – Creating Nuclear Power Free Asia Pacific region
The following statement was made by Friends of the Earth Asia Pacific at the FoE Asia Pacific meeting held in Seoul, Korea.
Several months after the Fukushima nuclear disaster, we are beginning to get a sense of the likely long-term impacts.
Radiation has spread across much of the northern hemisphere and parts of the southern hemisphere. Japan’s Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency estimates the radioactive release at 770,000 terabecquerels in the first week of the crisis. Total radiation releases will probably fall somewhere between 10?40% of those from the 1986 Chernobyl disaster. Radiation releases have not been stopped and will continue for some months.
The long-term cancer death toll will probably be somewhere between several hundred and several thousand. For comparison, a reasonable estimate of the Chernobyl death toll is 30,000.
Allowable radiation dose limits in Japan have been thrown out the window, both for emergency workers and for the general public.
Estimates of the economic costs of the disaster range from $50 billion to $130 billion ? but it wouldn’t be surprising if the true costs are considerably greater.
Between 100,000 and 150,000 people cannot return to their homes because of radioactive contamination. Some may be able to return before the end of this year but permanent relocation is a likely outcome for those who lived in the most contaminated regions. Legal and political battles will take decades to play out.
Globally, the nuclear power ‘renaissance’ has taken a big hit. Germany, Italy and Switzerland have decided to abandon nuclear power in favour of renewable energy sources. Plans to introduce or expand nuclear power in many other countries have taken a big backwards step.
Nuclear power has no part in building a climate-friendly and sustainable future.
A large and growing number of scientific studies have detailed the wide range of energy supply and energy efficiency options that can be deployed to meet energy demand while sharply reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
The claim that nuclear power is a necessary or desirable part of the fight against climate change must be rejected. Nuclear power is at most a very partial and problematic response and presents unresolved and unacceptable problems.
Uranium is the first link in the toxic nuclear fuel chain, and is the primary source of radioactive materials used in nuclear reactors and nuclear weapons. Many uranium mines have had serious adverse impacts on the environment and the communities that live near them.
Nuclear power plants around the world have already experienced many problems caused by phenomena which are likely to become more frequent and more severe as a result of climate change ? as seen in Japan. The nuclear industry has been very slow to address these problems. Meanwhile the nuclear power industry continues to survive because of huge taxpayer subsidies.
Hazardous radioactive wastes are generated at every stage of the nuclear fuel cycle. There is not a single permanent repository for spent fuel or high-level nuclear waste anywhere in the world.
In addition to the risk of accidents, nuclear power reactors are vulnerable to disasters from sabotage, terrorism, or the use of conventional forces to attack nuclear facilities during war.
Nuclear power is the one and only energy source with a direct and repeatedly-demonstrated connection to the proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction. Doubling nuclear output by the middle of the century would require the construction of 800-900 reactors to replace most of the existing cohort of reactors and to build as many again. These reactors would produce over one million tonnes of nuclear waste (in the form of spent fuel) containing enough plutonium to build over one million nuclear weapons.
These are some of the very clear reasons why we MUST reject the nuclear industry.
A clean energy future, based primarily on renewable energy and energy efficiency and conservation measures, is viable, safe and affordable.
Friends of the Earth Asia Pacific is calling for Government’s in our region like Korea, Japan, Malaysia, Sri Lanka and Australia to transition into nuclear free societies.
Friends of the Earth Asia Pacific region will pursue a nuclear free world as a region and in our individual countries.
We urge the citizens of Asian Pacific region to join us in taking action to build a nuclear free world.
Friends of the Earth Asia Pacific
Thursday 30 June 2011
Seoul, Korea
Radioactive by-products of Australian uranium spew out from Fukushima
“Radioactive by-products of Australian uranium have been spewing into the atmosphere from Fukushima” reported Natalie Lowrey of FoE Australia at the recent FoE Asia Pacific meeting in Seoul, Korea.
“BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto export uranium from Australia to TEPCO’s Fukushima nuclear power plant from the Olympic Dam and Ranger mines in Australia, respectively. Heathgate Resources, operator of the Beverley uranium mine in South Australia, has probably also supplied TEPCO.
“Approximately 70% of uranium used in nuclear reactors are sourced from the homelands of Indigenous minorities worldwide, this is no different in Australia. Aboriginal communities in Australia have publicly announced their sadness at the uranium that has be taken from their lands without their consent and resulted in the nuclear disaster in Japan. These Aboriginal communities know too well that the nuclear industry has lead to sickness, divided communities and contaminated land.
“On 6th April in a letter to Ban Ki Moon the Secretary General of the UN, Yvonne Margarula of the Mirrar people, Traditional Owners of the land that the Ranger uranium mine is located on in Australia, expressed solidarity with the people of Japan and much sorrow that uranium from the land of the Mirrar was used in the Fukushima plant.
“Yvonne like many people around the world believe that the Fukushima disaster is a dire warning of the risks posed by the nuclear industry. Production and exports from Australian uranium mines have averaged 9600 tonnes of uranium oxide (8140 tU) per year since 2004.
“Australia exports uranium to both Korea and Japan. As a major uranium supplier, Australia could have played a role in breaking the vicious cycle of nuclear safety breaches, data falsification and cover-ups in Japan over the past decade by making uranium exports conditional on improved management of nuclear plants and tighter regulation.
“But the mining companies and state/territory governments did nothing. And they continue to do nothing.
“The Fukushima disaster has not changed the situation for uranium mining in Australia, but it has had some effect. Public opposition to uranium mining has strengthened in Australia. A recent poll found 50% opposition to uranium exports compared to 44% support.
“This heightened opposition has had flow-on effects such as the Western Australia Labor Party’s reaffirmation of its no-uranium-mining policy at its state conference last week. Uranium is the first link in the toxic nuclear fuel chain, and is the primary source of radioactive materials used in nuclear weapons and nuclear reactors. Uranium mining adversely affects Indigenous peoples, our global environment and health, and when enriched for use in nuclear weapons and nuclear reactors, threatens our security and survival.
“The nuclear-free world envisioned by Friends of the Earth Asia Pacific will require an end to uranium mining. The nuclear option does not make sense on any level: economically, environmentally, politically or socially. It is too costly, too dangerous, too slow and has too small an impact on global warming.
“We MUST turn off the toxic tap with an end to uranium mining. We MUST challenge the green washing of governments and the nuclear industry that nuclear power is a solution to climate change. We MUST bring an end to the deadly and toxic nuclear cycle that results in poisoned lands, sickness and the potential for nuclear weapon proliferation.
“Friends of the Earth Australia joins our colleagues in South Korea, Sri Lanka, Malaysia and Japan, and all our brothers and sisters in the Asia Pacific region to build a nuclear free Asia Pacific and create a clean energy future for the next generations.”
Natalie Lowrey Friends of the Earth Australia Thursday 30 June 2011 Seoul, Korea
Action: Sign FoE Japan Nuclear Petition
anti nuclear demonstrators
Please sign this new EMERGENCY petition to roll back reckless radiation limits and protect hundreds of thousands of Japanese children from a lifetime of cancer fear.
Japan’s people desperately need help for common sense to prevail so their children are safe from radiation exposure. Thank you for taking the time to show your support. After you sign the petition, you will receive a confirmation email. To complete your action, click the link in the email to confirm your signature. We the undersigned ask you to join us in signing our petition, which will be presented to the Japanese Government
The Second Nuclear Emergency in Japan
The Fukushima disaster has rocked the entire nation of Japan. Unable to
guarantee public safety after the Fukushima nuclear catastrophe, Japan’s
bureaucracy has suddenly announced that children can now be exposed to
six times as much radiation as adult reactor workers.
Sign this EMERGENCY petition to roll back these reckless radiation limits and
protect hundreds of thousands of Japanese children from a lifetime of
cancer fear.
This is not just about Japan. What happens in Japan can set a dangerous
precedent abroad.
THE FACTS
On April 19, Japan’s central government informed Fukushima’s
school authorities that children could be exposed to 20 times the
radiation previously deemed safe for children – levels six times higher
than Japanese workers are legally allowed to suffer.
There is no scientific justification for this change. In meetings with
the government, no bureaucrat would admit responsibility for raising the
radiation exposure level for children. None could explain what the new
limit was based upon. Nobody would correct the problem. Disarray in
Japan’s bureaucracy cannot be allowed to put an entire generation in
danger.
WHAT NEEDS TO HAPPEN | Children are more vulnerable to radiation than
adults. Leading independent nuclear monitors in Japan demand that
radiation limits for children be rolled back from what is suspected to
be an “expedient” level advised by the nuclear industry (20 mSv per year)
to the level previously established as safe for children (1 mSv per year).
If the bureaucrats in Tokyo do not roll back the radiation limits,
children within 80 kilometers of the stricken Fukushima nuclear reactors
will be deliberately exposed to radiation levels that boost their risk
of cancer for decades to come.
OUR PETITION
We ask the government of Japan to take these action,
beginning immediately:
1. Withdraw the 20 mSv per year radiation standard issued April 19, 2011
for children and restore the 1 mSv per year dose limit for children.
2. Minimize children’s radiation exposure. Increase support for
municipal agencies and civil society groups aiding Japan’s thousands of
radiation refugees and undertaking urgent decontamination efforts.
3. In setting radiation exposure limits, take into account “internal”
radiation exposure from contaminated food, dust and other sources.
4. To protect children, maintain official radiation monitoring after
outdoor contamination falls below 3.8 mSv per hour, a radiation level
still 6 times what triggers a “radiation-controlled” working condition.
To people outside Japan, these demands will sound like mere commonsense.
But given the stress and influences on the Japanese government, our
people desperately need help for commonsense to prevail and for our
children to be protected. Changing public policy in Japan will have the
most far-reaching results. We thank you for your understanding and
support.
This petition is being organized by:
Green Action, Greenpeace Japan, Citizens’ Nuclear Information Center,
Citizens Against Fukushima Aging Nuclear Power Plants (Fukuro-no-Kai),
Osaka Citizens Against the Mihama, Oi, and Takahama Nuclear Power Plants
(Mihama-no-Kai), Friends of the Earth Japan
Friends of the Earth Japan Appeal
Friends of the Earth Kuranda expresses sympathy and solidarity with the people of Japan who have been affected by the devastating earthquake and tsunami.
Rescuers in Japan
We are asking people who are able to give money to FoE Japan. All money donated will be passed on to Japanese organisations working on the ground providing support. Currently these organisations are Peace Boat and Japan Chernobyl Foundation.
Peace Boat is delivering food and other goods in Ishinomaki City where the impact of earthquake and tsunami was severe. Until recently the area was isolated due to the destruction of the roads.
Japan Chernobyl Foundation is focused on the area affected by the nuclear accident at Fukushima. Due to the threat of radiation contamination, many drivers refuse to go to the area and people are leaving. However, many people have chosen to stay and need assistance.
Please see http://tinyurl.com/4b85v7a for further information.
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