EU: Friends of the Earth Japan submits petition signed by 20,353 people to EU Parliament, demanding for nuclear power to not be included in EU taxonomy
"Press Release: Petition signed by 20,353 people submitted to EU Parliament- Nuclear energy that is neither "sustainable" nor "green" should not be included in the EU taxonomy" 10 June 2022
Today, Friends of the Earth Japan submitted a petition letter to the EU Parliament demanding for nuclear power to not be included in the EU taxonomy. The petition was signed by 20,353 individuals and 387 organizations.
The petition states: “from uranium mining to nuclear power plant operations and decommissioning, nuclear power plants generate radioactive waste and continue to emit radioactive materials into the environment, in direct opposition to being environmentally sustainable," and “the inclusion of nuclear power in the EU Taxonomy and the EU giving its stamp on nuclear power as being green would not only undermine the credibility of the EU Taxonomy, but also leave a significant negative legacy for the future of the EU and the world.”
The Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant disaster is not over. The high-level radioactive waste needs to be managed deep underground for more than 100,000 years, but the final waste disposal site has not been decided upon in Japan, nor in many other countries. Environmental contamination and human rights violations also continue to occur in the process of mining uranium, used as a fuel. Taking into account such problems, the letter criticized that positioning nuclear energy as a climate change measure would go against the ‘do no significant harm’ (DNSH) principle of the EU Taxonomy.
Kanna Mitsuta, Executive Director of Friends of the Earth Japan says: “The Russian invasion of Ukraine made the vulnerability and dangers of nuclear power plants more clear than ever. We do not have much time to tackle climate change. We need to accelerate the shift towards a decentralized renewable energy system, not strengthen our dependency on costly nuclear or fossil fuels. I hope the EU Parliament will vote against the inclusion of nuclear and gas in the Taxonomy".
FoE Japan submitted the same petition letter to the Chair of the EU Commission on 11 January this year.
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