Message from the Abolition 2000 Annual General Meeting to Japan welcoming the shut-down of all the Japanese nuclear reactors
Tuesday 8 May 2012

The participants of the Abolition 2000 Annual General Meeting, gathered in Vienna on May 5, 2012, celebrate the shut-down today of the last operating nuclear power reactor, out of 54 reactors previously operating in Japan.

The reactors have been shut-down temporarily for normal and special maintenance.

In light of the catastrophic humanitarian and environmental consequences from the Fukushima disaster unfolding now and into the future, we support the majority of people in Japan and worldwide calling for a phase-out of nuclear energy, and specifically that the Japanese reactors are not restarted, but are closed permanently.

The facts that the Japanese society is now functioning without nuclear energy - and that the majority of other societies continue to function and develop successfully without nuclear energy - indicate that such a dangerous energy source is not necessary, particularly if we increase renewable energy sources.

The phase-out of nuclear energy also closes a door to the proliferation of nuclear weapons and helps create the conditions for a sustainable nuclear-weapon-free world.

We send this appeal to the Japanese government, parliament and civil society.