KAKUJOHO (Nuclear Information)

2013. 7.31

Stop Japan from further separating nuclear weapon usable plutonium
Stop Japan's Rokkasho Reprocessing Plant

Call to Action
─ Stop Japan from further separating nuclear weapon usable plutonium ─
Stop Japan's Rokkasho Reprocessing Plant

Action Requested:

Sending letter to the Japanese Embassy in your country urging Japan not to start the Rokkasho reprocessing plant.

Please send a copy of the letter to GENSUIKIN: 　 no-pu@gensuikin.org

DEADLINE: Monday, 5 August (your time)　some letters sent


Gensuikin logo

Japan Congress Against A- and H-Bombs (GENSUIKIN)
1F RENGO-kaikan, 3-2-11 Kanda-Surugadai, Chiyoda-ku Tokyo 101-0062, Japan
phone: +81-3-5289-8224 fax: +81-3-5289-8223


July 12, 2013

Dear Friends,

Greetings from Japan!

We will be commemorating the bombing of Nagasaki in about a month. Sixty-eight years ago on August 9, an atomic bomb containing about 6kg of plutonium destroyed the city of Nagasaki in an instant.

Next year, Japan intends to start the commercial operation of the Rokkasho reprocessing plant, the only industrial-scale reprocessing plant in a non-nuclear weapons state, to separate plutonium from fuel used in nuclear power plants at a rate of 8 tons per year, equivalent to 1,000 bombs using the IAEA formula of 8kg per bomb.

Originally, Japan intended to use separated plutonium to fuel fast breeder reactors (FBRs), which were supposed to produce more plutonium than they consumed, guaranteeing a semi eternal energy source. As in other countries, this program stalled, however. So Japan launched an uneconomical program to consume its accumulating plutonium in light water reactors. This also stalled. As result Japan has accumulated about 44 tons of plutonium, equivalent to more than 5,000 bombs: 34 tons in Europe, from reprocessing Japan’s spent fuel in the UK and France, and 10 tons in Japan.

Due to the Fukushima accident we have only two of 50 reactors operating. The number and the timing the reactors to be restarted is uncertain and the prospect of being able to consume a significant amount of the existing plutonium in reactors anytime soon is dim. Applications for review for restart of 10 reactors under the new safety rules were just submitted July 8.

The government still wants to start operation of the Rokkasho reprocessing plant. Further accumulation of nuclear-weapon-usable material is a concern for the international society and for Japan’s neighbors, who wonder about its intentions.

Separated plutonium is also a security risk. And if other countries follow Japan’s example, it would increase proliferation risks.

Please help us to stop Japan from further separating nuclear weapon usable material by doing the following:

Send a message/letter by fax or otherwise to the Japanese Embassy in your country by August 9 urging Japan not to start the Rokkasho reprocessing plant and send a copy of the message/letter that you have sent or intend to send to the following e-mail address by 5 August

no-pu@gensuikin.org

We will deliver them to the government of Japan on August 9. We also will release them to the media.

If your group could organize an action or produce a paper/OP-ED on the situation, please let us know. Please also help us circulate this request.

Thank you very much in advance.

NO MORE HIROSHIMAs! NO MORE NAGASAKIs! NO MORE PLUTONIUM!

Sincerely yours,
Yasunari Fujimoto
Secretary General,
Japan Congress Against A- and H-Bombs (GENSUIKIN)


Cf.



Some letters sent:

Yoichi OTABE

Ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary
Permanent Mission of Japan to the United Nations
Case Postale 337
1211 Genève 19

2 August 2013

Your Excellency

Reprocessing at Rokkasho

I write on behalf of the 300 member organisations and supporters of the International Peace Bureau, to express our opposition to the Japanese government’s plan to begin spent fuel reprocessing to separate plutonium at the Rokkasho plant next year.

Nuclear reprocessing is associated with grave risks for human health and the environment, on account of the radioactive emissions and plutonium production it entails. It was for these reasons that Germany gave up reprocessing at home in 1990 and, beginning in 2005, has made it illegal to send spent fuel from Germany abroad for reprocessing.

Separating enough plutonium for 1,000 nuclear warheads per year - while already possessing a stockpile of already separated plutonium which could supply more than 5,000 warheads - is alarming. It should be evident that this sets a dangerous example for other countries. The potential security and proliferation risks are in our view unacceptable.

Japan claims that its plutonium use program is strictly for peaceful purposes, but in fact it has profound implications for international non-proliferation. Other countries are concerned about the possibility of Japan acquiring nuclear weapons one day, but regardless of Japan's long term intentions, the program undermines efforts to restrict access to plutonium world-wide. South Korea points to the special treatment of Japan in justifying its own plans to reprocess spent nuclear fuel. This has become a sticking point in its negotiations with the United States for a new bilateral nuclear cooperation agreement. Meanwhile Iran never misses an opportunity to use Japan's nuclear fuel cycle program to justify its own nuclear activities.

After the Fukushima nuclear accident and the welcome closure of most nuclear power plants in Japan, there is little prospect of being able to consume a significant amount of the existing plutonium anytime soon. Therefore, restarting Rokkasho can only generate surplus plutonium, which Japan made a written and unequivocal pledge to the IAEA to avoid in December 1997.

Reprocessing plutonium at Rokkasho runs directly counter to the hopes of people in Japan and around the world for a nuclear-free future.

We request that you convey this message to the responsible officials in your government.

Sincerely,

Colin Archer
Secretary-General
International Peace Bureau

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41 rue de Zurich
1201 Geneva
Switzerland.

The International Peace Bureau is dedicated to the vision of a World Without War. We are a Nobel Peace Laureate (1910), and over the years 13 of our officers have been recipients of the Nobel Peace Prize. Our 300 member organisations in 70 countries, and individual members, form a global network bringing together expertise and campaigning experience in a common cause. IPB has UN Consultative Status since 1977 and is the Secretariat for the NGO Committee for Disarmament (Geneva). Our main programme centres on Disarmament for Sustainable Development, of which the Global Day of Action on Military Spending is a key part.　Facebook　Twitter

August 6, 2013

A Call on Japan to Indefinitely Postpone Operation of the Rokkasho Spent Fuel Reprocessing Plant

We are writing to ask that Japan refrain from operating its Rokkasho reprocessing plant. Minimizing and eventually eliminating worldwide stockpiles of weapon-usable fissile materials, including separated plutonium, must be a high priority for the international community. Doing so would promote nuclear disarmament and nonproliferation, and help prevent terrorists from acquiring nuclear weapons.

A Japanese decision to operate Rokkasho and separate plutonium on an industrial scale would constitute a serious blow to efforts to prevent other nations, including South Korea, from reprocessing. Bringing Rokkasho on line would only add to Japan’s stockpile of nuclear weapon-usable separated plutonium for which it lacks a readily available means for disposal. It would further strain the nonproliferation regime and the International Atomic Energy Agency at a time when both are facing enormous challenges.

On December 1, 1997, Japan stated that its nuclear fuel cycle is based on "the principle of no surplus plutonium."1 However, by the end of 2011 Japan's total stockpile of separated plutonium had grown from 24 to over 44 metric tons—enough for some 7,000 nuclear weapons. Ten metric tons are currently in Japan, and the rest is held for Japan at the French and British reprocessing plants.2

The operation of the Rokkasho plant would greatly increase Japan's domestic plutonium stockpile and further undermine its stated goal of “no surplus plutonium.” Operating at its design capacity, the plant would separate approximately eight metric tons of plutonium per year, enough to make 1,000 bombs.

Prior to Fukushima, Japan planned to dispose of most of this stockpile by burning it in the form of mixed- oxide (MOX, or pluthermal) fuel in its fleet of light-water reactors. Japan claimed that the mere existence of such a plan proved that its plutonium stockpile was not “surplus.” However, even before Fukushima, it would have taken Japan many decades to dispose of its huge plutonium stockpile. Its MOX fuel plan has encountered technical problems and public opposition, leading to significant delay. At the time of Fukushima, only a small amount of MOX fuel, containing only 2.5 tons of plutonium, had actually been irradiated in Japanese light-water reactors.

Currently, Japan only has two operating light water reactors, and it is unclear how many others will be restarted and how long they will operate. Operating Rokkasho did not make sense before Fukushima occurred, and it makes even less sense today.

Ultimately, Rokkasho's operation in the face of large Japanese stocks of surplus plutonium would raise serious concerns in East Asia and around the world about Japan's commitment to nonproliferation and the prevention of nuclear terrorism.

Japan has shown great wisdom in not joining the "club" of nuclear-weapon states. We urge it to show equal leadership in deciding not to add to the accumulation of excess stocks of separated civilian plutonium—a supply for which there is no plausible demand. Accordingly, we call on Japan to indefinitely postpose operation of its Rokkasho reprocessing plant.

Peter Bradford
Former Commissioner, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission
Steve Fetter
Professor, School of Public Policy, University of Maryland
Kurt Gottfried
Professor of Physics Emeritus, Cornell University
Scott Kemp
Assistant Professor of Nuclear Science and Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Edwin Lyman
Senior Scientist, Global Security Program, Union of Concerned Scientists
Marvin Miller
Research Affiliate, Science, Technology and Society Program, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Andrew M. Sessler
Distinguished Director Emeritus of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Frank von Hippel
Professor of Public and International Affairs emeritus, Princeton University and
Co-chair, International Panel on Fissile Materials

  1. International Atomic Energy Agency, Communication Received from Certain Member States Concerning their Policies Regarding the Management of Plutonium, INFCIRC/549/Add. 1, 31 March 1998. Available at http://www.iaea.org/Publications/Documents/Infcircs/1998/infcirc549a1.pdf (accessed March 14, 2005).
  2. International Atomic Energy Agency, Communication Received from Japan Concerning Its Policies Regarding the Management of Plutonium, INFCIRC/549/Add. 1/15, 3 October 2012, including 2013 MOX shipments.

July 25, 2013

Ambassador Kenichiro Sasae
Embassy of Japan
2520 Massachusetts Ave., NW Washington, DC 20008

Dear Mr. Ambassador:

I write on behalf of the 250,000 members and supporters of Peace Action in the United States to express our opposition to the Japanese government’s plan to begin spent fuel reprocessing to separate plutonium at the Rokkasho plant next year.

Separating enough plutonium for 1,000 nuclear bombs per year (understanding that is not the purpose, but it is still a staggering figure), while possessing a stockpile of already separated plutonium which could supply more than 5,000 nuclear bombs is alarming. This could set a dangerous precedent for other countries. The potential security and proliferation risks ought to be considered unacceptable.

On a personal note, I have traveled to Japan three times to stand with the Hibakusha and other peace groups and advocates in calling for the global elimination of nuclear weapons. Each time, I have greatly enjoyed your beautiful country and wonderfully gracious people. Reprocessing plutonium at Rokkasho runs directly counter to the hopes of people in Japan and around the world for a nuclear-free future.

Sincerely,

Kevin Martin
Executive Director
Peace Action

RENATE KÜNAST ☆ JÜRGEN TRITTIN ☆ BÄRBEL HÖHN ☆PLATZ DER REPUBLIK 1 ☆ 11011 BERLIN

To His Excellency Shinzo Abe,
Prime Minister of Japan


Dear Mr. Prime Minister,

we are writing to you out of concern about the plans to put the nuclear reprocessing facility in Rokkasho into operation.

Nuclear reprocessing is associated with grave risks for man and nature beacuse of the radioactive immissions and plutonium production it entails. And every new reprocessing facility sets a precedent that may be quoted by others in the future, including rogue states who want to abuse this dangerous technology for military purposes.

It was for these reasons that Germany gave up reprocessing at home in 1990 and, beginning in 2005, has made it illegal to send spent fuel from Germany abroad for reprocessing.

Japan and Germany have the great opportunity to be in the vanguard, creating a sustainable energy system based on renewable sources of energy that has no need for nuclear power or reprocessing technology.

Therefore, we entreat you not to start the Rokkaso nuclear reprocessing facility.

Let us work together to end the atomic age. Let us seize the opportunities that the energy transition from nuclear to renewable energy provides. And let us mutually profit from the lessons we learn and the progress we make.

Yours sincerely

Renate Künast 　 Jürgen Trittin
CHAIRPEOPLE BÜNDNIS 90/DIE GRÜNEN
PARLIAMENTARY GROUP

Bärbel Höhn
VICE-CHAIR BÜNDNIS 90/DIE GRÜNEN
PARLIAMENTARY GROUP

August 6, 2013

Ambassador Kenichiro Sasae
Embassy of Japan to the United States of America
2520 Massachusetts Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20008

Dear Mr. Ambassador,

Sixty-eight years after the terrible atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the threat of nuclear weapons remains and all the world’s great nations and all of its citizens have a responsibility to prevent the spread and the use of these, the world’s most dangerous weapons.

The Arms Control Association has been working since 1971 to promote pragmatic solutions to reduce the risks posed by nuclear weapons. We have worked with members of your government and with civil society in Japan for many years to effect a permanent end to nuclear weapons testing, achieve verifiable and irreversible nuclear disarmament by the declared nuclear weapon states, advance a treaty to end to the production of fissile material, set higher standards for civil nuclear cooperation and nuclear material security, and realize action-for-action steps to achieve the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, among other measures.

As we pursue our work, we are mindful of the innocent civilians killed by Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings, as well as the hundreds of thousands of other victims and survivors of nuclear weapons production and testing across the globe over the course of the past several decades.

The United States—as the first country to use nuclear weapons—bears a special responsibility for helping to spur progress. But the United States cannot alone help achieve a world without nuclear weapons. All nations, including Japan, have a solemn responsibility under the nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty to contribute to nonproliferation and disarmament and to provide leadership through their actions.

In the coming months, Japan has an opportunity to contribute to the cause of nuclear disarmament by adjusting its current plan to start the commercial operation of the Rokkasho reprocessing plant, which would be the only industrial-scale reprocessing plant in a non-nuclear weapons state. Rokkasho would be capable of separating plutonium from spent nuclear fuel at a rate of 8 tons per year. Japan already possesses about 34 tons of separated plutonium in Europe from reprocessing Japan’s spent fuel in the UK and France, and 10 tons of separated plutonium in Japan.

Given the near total shutdown of Japan’s nuclear power reactors in the wake of the Fukushima disaster, including all power plants approved to use plutonium-based MOX fuel, a decision by Japan to start operation of Rokkasho would be extremely troubling.

In addition, Japan is wisely backing away from the use of MOX fuel because of the safety problems associated with the MOX fuel that was used at unit 3 of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. Because MOX fuel is more radioactive than low-enriched uranium fuel used in other reactors, an accident involving MOX fuel would be more severe.

With no near-term prospect for commercialization of a fast breeder reactor and no clear prospect of using MOX fuel in Japan’s existing power reactors, there is no justification for reprocessing spent fuel. This simply accumulates more separated plutonium, which clearly contradicts Japan’s stated policy of avoiding surplus plutonium and undermines global efforts to minimize the accumulation of fissile material for civilian or military purposes.

As President Barack Obama said in a speech at Hankuk University in South Korea on March 26, 2012:

“The very process that gives us nuclear energy can also put nations and terrorists within the reach of nuclear weapons. We simply can’t go on accumulating huge amounts of the very material, like separated plutonium, that we’re trying to keep away from terrorists.”

We share the concern of many U.S. government officials that Japan’s plan to start operation of Rokkasho would undermine the basis of the current U.S.-Japanese civil nuclear cooperation agreement because it would mean that Japan is accumulating more separated plutonium without consuming it.

In the coming months, we urge you and your colleagues in Japan to reconsider plans for spent fuel reprocessing and plutonium separation and join the vast majority of other states around the world who seek an end to the production of fissile material, including separated plutonium for any purpose.

By joining with the United States in discouraging reprocessing by other states, including South Korea, and encouraging the safe geologic disposal of already separated stocks of plutonium, Japan could become a leader in the effort to prevent proliferation.

Such a decision would contribute to Japan’s important work with the Nuclear Nonproliferation and Disarmament Initiative; it would provide your government with increased leverage to pressure the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea to suspend its plutonium separation activities; and contribute to future efforts to engage China, India, and Pakistan in a global fissile material production cut off regime.

Thank you for your consideration.


Daryl G. Kimball,
Executive Director,
Arms Control Association


Armes nucléaires STOP

Gif sur Yvette, le 26 juillet 2013

Dominique Lalanne

36 chemin des Graviers 91190 Gif sur Yvette

à

Son Excellence Ichiro KOMATSU
Ambassadeur du Japon en France
7, avenue Hoche
75008 Paris France

Objet : arrêt de l’usine de retraitement de Rokkasho et demande de rendez-vous

Monsieur l’Ambassadeur,

Il y aura 68 ans le 9 août 2013, une bombe américaine au plutonium détruisait la ville de Nagasaki, provoquant la mort instantanée de près de 90 000 êtres humains et des milliers de morts par cancers, maladies cardiovasculaires et autres jusqu’à aujourd’hui.

Nous apprenons que le gouvernement du Japon a l’intention de redémarrer l’usine de retraitement de combustible irradié de Rokkasho pour séparer le plutonium qui sera utilisé à des fins commerciales dans les centrales nucléaires civiles.

A ce jour, le Japon dispose d’environ 44 tonnes de plutonium séparé, soit en Europe (34 tonnes) soit au Japon (10 tonnes) : quantité nécessaire pour construire au moins 5000 bombes de type Nagasaki.

Nous apprenons que, le 8 juillet 2013, les compagnies d’électricités japonaises ont soumis des formulaires auprès de l’Autorité de régulation nucléaire, des formulaires pour le redémarrage de 10 réacteurs arrêtés depuis l’accident de Fukushima. Nous savons aussi que le Gouvernement du Japon déclare toujours son intention de commencer l’exploitation commerciale de l’usine de retraitement de Rokkasho. Nous nous interrogeons sur les intentions du Japon qui va ainsi accumuler d’importantes quantités supplémentaires de plutonium.

Comme vous le savez, la fabrication du plutonium accroît le risque de prolifération nucléaire dans le monde et contrevient à l’esprit des engagements pris par les pays signataires dans le cadre du traité de non prolifération nucléaire. L’article 9 de la Constitution du Japon fait de votre pays un exemple de promotion de la paix. L’arrêt de l’usine de retraitement de Rokkasho contribuera ainsi à renforcer le rôle moteur du Japon dans le monde pour un règlement pacifique des conflits et l’élimination de toutes les armes nucléaires. De plus, une décision d’arrêt de Rokkasho permettra à notre organisation d’exiger du gouvernement français l’arrêt de l’usine de retraitement de La Hague.

Une centaine de jeûneurs seront présents à Paris du 6 au 9 août pour commémorer les bombardement d'Hiroshima et Nagasaki et s'opposer aux armes nucléaires. Nous souhaiterions vous rencontrer pendant cette période.

Veuillez agréer, Monsieur l’Ambassadeur, l'assurance de notre très haute considération.

Pour Armes nucléaires STOP, Dominique Lalanne
co-président

Ambassador Yoshitaka Akimoto
Embassy of Japan in Australia,
112 Empire Circuit,
YARRALUMLA, ACT 2600

22 July 2013

Dear Ambassador,

As this is the first time I have written to you, I warmly welcome you to Australia.

I have written to the previous Japanese Ambassador several times due to my deep concern for the people of Japan after 11 March 2011, which was strengthened after my visit to Fukushima prefecture in July 2012.

I am writing to you to request that Japan not permit the restarting of the Rokkasho reprocessing plant.

If operated at full capacity, Rokkasho will separate plutonium from fuel used in nuclear power plants at a rate of 8 tons per year, the equivalent to 1,000 bombs using the IAEA formula of 8kg per bomb.

After the Fukushima nuclear accident and the welcome closure of most nuclear power plants in Japan, there is little prospect of being able to consume a significant amount of the existing plutonium anytime soon. Therefore, restarting Rokkasho can only generate surplus plutonium, which Japan made a written and unequivocal pledge to the IAEA to avoid in December 1997.

US officials share concerns about plans to start up the Rokkasho Reprocessing Plant without a clear plan for using the plutonium (AEC regular meeting, 22 April 2013).

I have an enormous respect for the people of Japan, their sense of community and service and their creative and technical ingenuity. I believe not only that Japan's energy future can be nuclear free, but that your talents and industrial capacity could lead a clean energy future for the world.

I therefore join many others in asking the Japanese government to not restart Rokkasho and to declare a moratorium on nuclear power.

Sincerely

Senator Scott Ludlam

Your Excellency Mr Yoshitaka Akimoto

Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Japan

Thank you for the opportunity to visit your residence with the Japan Studies Association of Australia Conference on Monday 8 July. My wife and I enjoyed the occasion very much.

I am writing to you about a matter of great concern to me.

Next year, Japan plans to start the commercial operation of the Rokkasho reprocessing plant. The plant is the only industrial-scale reprocessing plant in a non-nuclear weapons state and, if operated at full capacity, it will separate plutonium from fuel used in nuclear power plants at a rate of 8 tons per year. This is equivalent to 1,000 bombs using the IAEA formula of 8kg per bomb.

Originally, Japan intended to use separated plutonium to fuel fast breeder reactors (FBRs), which were supposed to produce more plutonium than they consumed, guaranteeing a semi eternal energy source. However, as in other countries this program stalled. So Japan launched an uneconomical program to consume its growing stockpile of plutonium in light water reactors. This also stalled. As a result Japan has accumulated about 44 tons of plutonium, equivalent to more than 5,000 bombs: 34 tons in Europe, from reprocessing Japan’s spent fuel in the UK and France, and 10 tons in Japan. After the Fukushima nuclear accident, there is little prospect of being able to consume a significant amount of the existing plutonium anytime soon.

Japan claims that its plutonium use program is strictly for peaceful purposes, but in fact it has profound implications for international non-proliferation. Other countries are concerned about the possibility of Japan acquiring nuclear weapons one day, but regardless of Japan's long term intentions, the program undermines efforts to restrict access to plutonium world-wide. South Korea points to the special treatment of Japan in justifying its own plans to reprocess spent nuclear fuel. This has become a sticking point in its negotiations with the United States for a new bilateral nuclear cooperation agreement. Meanwhile Iran never misses an opportunity to use Japan's nuclear fuel cycle program to justify its own nuclear activities.

In his speech at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies in Seoul on 26 March 2012 President Obama expressed his concern about growing stocks of plutonium:

"We simply can’t go on accumulating huge amounts of the very material, like separated plutonium, that we’re trying to keep away from terrorists."(1)

Clearly President Obama must have had Japan's plutonium stockpile in mind.

Also, as reported by Atomic Energy Commission Vice-Chairman Tatsujiro Suzuki, US officials have conveyed their concerns about plans to start up the Rokkasho Reprocessing Plant without a clear plan for using the plutonium (AEC regular meeting, 22 April 2013).(2) In a decision dated 31 January 1997 the Atomic Energy Commission promised that Japan would not hold surplus plutonium. This decision was endorsed by Cabinet on 4 February 1997. Further, in a decision dated 5 August 2003 the Atomic Energy Commission required electric power companies to publish plutonium use plans before separating plutonium. If the Rokkasho reprocessing plant is restarted under the current circumstances, the trustworthiness of Japan's word will be called into question.

By simply claiming that its intentions are peaceful Japan is not behaving as a responsible member of the international community. Japan must consider the wider implications of its reprocessing and plutonium use program. This is even more true now when arguments that plutonium can make a significant contribution to Japan's energy supply have lost all credibility.

I therefore request that the Japanese government declare that it will not permit the restart of the Rokkasho reprocessing plant.

Philip White
PhD candidate
Centre for Asian Studies
The University of Adelaide

  1. http://iipdigital.usembassy.gov/st/english/texttrans/2012/03/201203262737.html#axzz1qaFg16rG
  2. http://www.aec.go.jp/jicst/NC/iinkai/teirei/siryo2013/siryo26/siryo3.pdf.

H.E. Mr. Takeshi Yagi

Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Plot No.4&5,
50-G Shantipath, Chanakyapuri,
New Delhi 110021

Dear Mr. Ambassador

Peace activists in India are dismayed by the Japanese government’s plans to begin spent fuel reprocessing to separate plutonium at the Rokkasho plant next year. I understand that this will create enough plutonium for 1,000 nuclear bombs per year. While this may not be your immediate purpose, it hugely adds to your stockpile of already separated plutonium which can supply more than 5,000 nuclear bombs. This is an immediate threat to world peace and world health and is a terrible example to set to other countries with similar ambitions and an equally cynical worldview.

In 1998 after India and Pakistan did nuclear tests I was one of many peace activists invited by the Hibakusha in Japan to visit Hiroshima and Nagasaki. We joined other peace groups and advocates in calling for the global elimination of nuclear weapons. We hoped that Japan would lead the way to a nuclear free world.

After the horror in Fukushima the awareness of the Japanese public greatly accelerated. The Japanese public is not with you. Peace activists across the globe are not with you. So we urge you to reconsider your decision to reprocess plutonium at Rokkasho as it runs directly counter to the hopes of people in Japan and around the world for a nuclear-free future.

Sincerely,

Anand Patwardhan

Documentary Filmmaker, India

NAPF logo

July 30, 2013

H.E. Ambassador Kenichiro Sasae
Embassy of Japan
2520 Massachusetts Avenue, N.W.
Washington, DC 20008

Dear Ambassador Sasae,

As we approach the 68th anniversary of the U.S. atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, it is clear that Japan still has an important voice in the movement for nuclear disarmament. The voices of the hibakusha remind us every day that nuclear weapons must be abolished before they are used again.

It is with this sense of urgency that I write to urge Japan to immediately abandon plans to open the Rokkasho nuclear spent fuel reprocessing plant. Canceling these plans would send a message to the world that the production nuclear weapons-grade material is simply too dangerous.

Operating the Rokkasho reprocessing plant would result in approximately eight tons of weapons-usable plutonium being extracted each year, enough to produce almost 1,000 nuclear warheads annually. Although Japan has adhered to its obligations under the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), the production of large amounts of plutonium increases the risk of theft.

The huge accumulation of plutonium that will inevitably result from the opening of this reprocessing plant could also lead to suspicions of nuclear weapons development. Such suspicion would adversely impact the global struggle towards nuclear disarmament and nonproliferation as other countries feel the need to match Japan’s capabilities.

Japan must take a stand against the production of nuclear weapon-usable materials before other countries such as South Korea and China begin showing further interest in developing reprocessing plants of their own. The opening of a number of new reprocessing plants would inevitably lead to a downward spiral of nuclear proliferation.

The Nuclear Age Peace Foundation calls upon the government of Japan to immediately cancel the opening of the Rokkasho reprocessing plant. We urge Japan to reconsider its plans and reaffirm its commitment to fully realize the goals set forth in the NPT.

Sincerely,

David Krieger
President

Ambassador Takeshi NAKANE
Embassy of Japan in Germany
Hiroshimastr. 6, 10785 Berlin
Germany

02.08.2013

Dear Mr.Ambassador,

I am writing on behalf of the 6,500 members of the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW) in Germany to express our opposition to the Japanese government’s plan to initiate the reprocessing of spent fuel to separate plutonium at the Rokkasho plant next year.

We respectfully ask Japan not to permit the restart of the Rokassho reprocessing plant.

We believe that the potential proliferation risks and the Japanese population’s lack of knowledge regarding this decision make it unacceptable. Plutonium is one of the most toxic substances known to man, a tiny amount being sufficient to cause lung cancer if ingested.

The reprocessing of plutonium runs contrary to broad public interest in Japan and around the world.

Furthermore we understand that there are no clear plans for actually using the plutonium which is a fact that causes us substantial concern as it would mean stockpiling over long periods of time, thus increasing proliferation risks.

We hope for a nuclear-free future.

Sincerely,

Xanthe Hall

To the attention of
Ambassador Hiroshi Oe
Embassy of Japan in Pakistan
53-70, Ramna 5/4
Diplomatic Enclave 1
Islamabad 44000
Pakistan

Please do not start Rokkasho Reprocessing Plant

3 August 2013

Dear Ambassador Hiroshi Oe,

I am writing to you on behalf of the Pakistan Peace Coalition, a national network of peace and justice groups formed after the nuclear tests in May 1998. We work for total nuclear disarmament in Pakistan, in South Asia and in the world.

Over the years, we have been very fortunate to benefit from the support of Japanese peace groups (Gensuiken, Gensuikyo and Peace Boat in particular) to help us educate people in Pakistan about the horrors of nuclear weapons. We have been able to reach out to many Pakistanis because of the support of our Japanese peace movement colleagues and the several hibakusha who they have arranged to visit our country. We are grateful to the people of Japan for this support.

Each year we commemorate the atomic bombing of Japan in 1945. This year we are surprised to learn that Japan intends to start the commercial operation of the Rokkasho plutonium separation plant, able to produce about 8 tons per year of plutonium. As I am sure you know, on August 9, 1945, an atomic bomb containing only 6kg of plutonium destroyed Nagasaki. This means Rokkasho will be able to produce the equivalent of about 1000 bombs per year of plutonium.

We also have learned that Japan already has a stockpile of about 44 tons of plutonium, with 34 tons in the UK and France and 10 tons in Japan. It is the largest plutonium stockpile of any non-weapon state in the world.

Any accumulation of plutonium is a legitimate concern for the international community given hat plutonium is a nuclear weapon material. We oppose the production of plutonium in Pakistan and we believe it should be opposed everywhere because of the risk of proliferation and the threat of terrorism and the high economic and environmental costs of producing plutonium.

We understand that this plutonium is intended for use in Japan’s nuclear power program. But, as you know, since the terrible disaster at Fukushima in 2011 all but two of Japan’s nuclear reactors have been shut.

We wish to lend our support to our support for the people and for the peace movement and environmental movements in Japan calling for a stop to plans to operate Rokkasho. These movements are now supported by the editors of The Asahi Shimbun (22 April 2013) and of The Japan Times (26 July 2013) who have called for ending plutonium separation and use in Japan.

We request that you inform Tokyo that those in Pakistan who look upon Japan as a friend and supporter for the great cause of nuclear disarmament urge the Japanese government not to start operating Rokkasho and instead to return to the policy of the previous government of a phase-out of nuclear power.

Yours sincerely,

A.H. Nayyar
President
Pakistan Peace Coalition
ST-001, Sector X, Sub Sector - V,
Gulshan-e-Maymar, Karachi – Pakistan

Coalition for Nuclear Disarmament and Peace ( CNDP )

Dear Ambassador,

We are writing to you in solidarity with the ongoing protests in Japan against the start-up of the Rokkasho reprocessing plant which is scheduled next year.

At a time when Japan is reeling under financial and human crisis invited by the Fukushima nuclear accident whose full consequences will still take years to unfold, we think that re-starting Rokkasho would be a completely anachronistic and uncceptable act.

Rokkasho is the only industrial-scale reprocessing plant in a non-nuclear weapons state, to separate plutonium from fuel used in nuclear power plants at a rate of 8 tons per year, equivalent to 1,000 bombs using the IAEA formula of 8 kg per bomb. Re-starting Rokkasho would be an insult to the Hibakushas, the survivors of atomic bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, who are still struggling after 68 years for a nuclear free world.

We also register our strong protest against rehabilitating the nuclear profiteers through opening nuclear exports to countries like India, Vietnam, Jordan, UAE etc. Leaning from Fukushima, Japan should take leadership in promoting energy transformation based on renewable, sustainable and decentralised forms of energy. We are dismayed that on the contrary Japan is trying to re-start reactors and reprocessing plants.

We urge you to listen to the protesting people and convey our demands to the Japanese government to stop re-starting the Rokkasho reprocessing plant and other nuclear power plants and abandon the proposals for nuclear exports.

With best regards,

Yours sincerely,

Achin Vanaik
Praful Bidwai
Anil Chaudhary
Kumar Sundaram
Lalita Ramdas
L. Ramdas
Sukla Sen
EAS Sarma
Vaishali Patil
Krishna Kant
Anitha.S
Dr.S.Santhi
Ashok.S
Sonia George
Seeta Dasan
Baburaj,P
Civic Chandran
Girija Adam
Dr.Susha Janardhanan
Sukla Sen
Meher Engineer
Rajashri Dasgupta
Mansi Sharma
Mahtab Alam
Jitendra Kumar
Rajeev Suman
Surendra Gadekar
Sanghamitra Gadekar
P K Mangalam
Manisha Sethi
Neeraj Jain
Anand Patwardhan

Embassy of Japan
No 20
Gregory’s Road
Colombo 7
Sri-Lanka

23rd July 2013

Dear Sir,

Commercial Operation of the Rokkasho Reprocessing Plant.

We strongly urge to Japanese government to not to start the Rokkasho Reprocessing Plant, to separate plutonium from fuel used in nuclear power plants. This is the only reprocessing plant in the non-nuclear weapon states. This plant can produce 8 tons of Plutonium per year.

If Japanese government wants to start operation of the Rokkasho reprocessing plant, further accumulation of nuclear weapon usable material is a concern for the international society and for Japan’s neighbors.

Please stop commercial operation of the Rokkasho reprocessing plant.

No More Hiroshimas! No more Nagssakis! No More Plutonium.

Dr Ranjith S Jayasekera

Vice President
Sri–Lankan Doctors for Peace and Development
ICAN Coordinator
Sri-Lanka

ABOLITION 2000
(AOTEAROA-NEW ZEALAND)
Box 47-189, Auckland
Aotearoa-New Zealand 1011
Part of a global network of over 2000 organisations aiming to achieve an international agreement for the permanent abolition of nuclear weapons


Japanese Embassy
PO Box 6340 Marion Square
Wellington 6141

6th August

Dear Japanese Ambassador

This week we are commemorating Hiroshima Day in New Zealand as people are doing in countries around the world. Sixty eight years ago Nakasaki was also destroyed on 9th August 1945 by an atomic bomb containing 6kg of plutonium. Our hearts go out to the Japanese people who have suffered so much and we are determined to prevent future Hiroshimas and abolish these inhumane weapons of mass destruction.

Japan has displayed global leadership on this issue including through an annual UN resolution on nuclear disarmament and most recently by introducing the working paper on Building Blocks for a World without Nuclear Weapons to the Open Ended Working Group (OEWG).

Thus, we are horrified to learn that Japan intends to start commercial operation of the Rokkasho reprocessing plant to separate plutonium from fuel used in nuclear power plants. It will be at the rate of 8 tons per year, the equivalent of 1000 nuclear bombs, using the IAEA formula of 8kg per bomb. This is the only industrial scale reprocessing plant in a non-nuclear weapons state.

We understand that originally, Japan intended to use separated plutonium to fuel fast breeder reactors which were supposed to produce more plutonium than they consumed, guaranteeing a semi-eternal energy source. As in other countries this programme stalled. So Japan launched an uneconomical programme to consume its accumulating plutonium in light water reactors. This also stalled. As a result Japan has accumulated about 44 tons of plutonium, equivalent to more than 5000 nuclear bombs.

Due to the Fukushima accident Japan has only two of its 50 reactors operating and the restarting of these reactors is uncertain. Thus, there is little prospect of these reactors consuming a significant amount of the existing plutonium in the near future. Yet the government still wants to start operation of the Rokkasho reprocessing plant. Further accumulation of nuclear weapons grade material is a concern for international society, particularly for Japan’s neighbours.

Separated plutonium is a security risk and increases the chances of it being available for weapons. This risks proliferation of nuclear weapons and undermines the principles of the UN Non-Proliferation Treaty. Controls on fissile material production are identified in the working paper Japan introduced at the OEWG, as amongst the key building blocks to achieve a nuclear weapons free world. Plutonium reprocessing runs counter to this.

Thus, we implore your government to stop Japan from producing nuclear weapon grade materials at Rokkasho. In addition, we humbly request that Japan sign the Joint Statement on the Humanitarian Consequences of Nuclear Weapons and courageously support a legally binding Nuclear Weapons Ban. This would be a most productive path leading the way to a Nuclear Weapons Convention for abolition of these weapons to ensure prevention of their use which would inflict catastrophic suffering upon humanity.

However, in order to reduce fears of nuclear threats to Japan and establish the most conducive environment for regional security we recommend that Japan pursue a North East Asia Nuclear Weapon Free Zone. This agreement would provide the foundation for confidence between North and South Korea and Japan that they would remove nuclear weapons, or not acquire them, nor even host nuclear weapons. This would require that China, Russia and the USA agree to never to use nuclear weapons on these states and that they will not station nuclear weapons in these countries.

The Japanese government will be fully supported in these policies by Mayors for Peace and the international community through the United Nations and will be joining 118 nations who are part of regional Nuclear Free Zones.

Japan knows the horror of nuclear weapons more than any other nation and from this knowledge born from experience needs to be a brave leader in the battle to eliminate nuclear weapons and the means of their production.

Yours sincerely

Laurie Ross
Representative -Abolition 2000 Aotearoa New Zealand

Abolition 2000 (Aotearoa-New Zealand) is a coalition of organizations including:
Engineers for Social Responsibility, Pax Christi, The Peace Foundation, International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, Peace Movement Aotearoa, ICAN NZ, United Nations Association of New Zealand and Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom

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