A report entitled “Thinking the Unthinkable: Japanese nuclear power and nuclear proliferation in East Asia” will be released at the World Conference Against A- and H-Bombs to Commemorate the 60th Anniversary of the Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The conference is being organized by the Japan Congress Against A- and H-Bombs and commences on 4 August 2005 in Hiroshima. The report has been translated into Japanese and the Japanese and English versions will be released simultaneously.
The report, written by Dr. Frank Barnaby, and Shaun Burnie, is a joint publication of the Citizens’ Nuclear Information Center (CNIC) and the Oxford Research Group (ORG). It addresses the question of whether or not a future Japanese government might take a political decision to develop nuclear weapons and concludes that Japan’s existing plutonium programme is a driver for nuclear proliferation in the East Asian region and further afield.
The report recommends abandoning plutonium use on the grounds of non-proliferation. It suggests that such a change will require active citizen opposition in Japan based upon informed debate and mobilization, aided by support from overseas.
About the authors
Dr. Barnaby was Executive Secretary of the Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs in the late 1960s and Director of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute from 1971-81 and is now a Nuclear Issues Consultant to ORG.
Shaun Burnie is Coordinator of Greenpeace International nuclear campaigns.
Launch
The English report will be distributed to English speaking participants at the conference. The Japanese report will be distributed to participants at the following two workshops. One of the authors, Shaun Burnie, will also participate in these workshops.
Hiroshima, 5 August 2005, 9:00 ~ 12:00
Session 5: Withdrawal from Plutonium Reprocessing and MOX Use Plan, and Reform of Nuclear Policy
(RCC Bunka Center, Hiroshima-shi, Naka-ku, Hashimoto-cho 5-11 (082-222-2277))
Nagasaki, 8 August 2005, 9:30 ~ 12:30
Session 3: Towards the Reform of Nuclear Policy – Reprocessing and MOX Use Plan
(NBC Video hall, Nagasaki-shi, Uamachi 1-35 (095-826-5300))
Click here to read the report in English / Japanese
Contacts:
Philip White, CNIC International Liaison Officer (phone (03) 5330 9520)
Hideyuki Ban, CNIC Co-Director (at the conference)
Return to CNIC News Service
