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Japan’s Troubled Plutonium Program Genkai Nuclear Power Plant Starts MOX Fuel Use 460,000 Citizens Demand Suspension Round-the-Clock Sit-In Begins 5 November 2009 PRESS RELEASE For immediate release Contact: Aileen Mioko Smith—–cell: +81-90-3620-9251 Kyoto, Japan—Japan’s beleaguered “pluthernal” program, MOX (mixed plutonium-uranium oxide) fuel use in commercial power plants, got off to a troubled start at Kyushu Electric’s Genkai Unit 3 Nuclear Power Plant Unit 3 in Saga Prefecture today with the use of 16 MOX fuel assemblies. Full-time opera-tion of the reactor is scheduled to begin December 2nd. A round-the-clock sit-in began this morning in front of Kyushu Electric headquarters in Fukuoka City and messages of support are pouring in from…

Japan’s Worst Pollution Disaster MINAMATA DISEASE:　Mercury poisoning from industrial waste Will Prime Minister Taro Aso’s Government Ram Through Bill Shutting off Relief for Minamata Disease Victims? For immediate release: 29 June 2009 Contact: Aileen Mioko Smith Cell: +81-75-701-7223 (Press conference in Japanese at 16:00 today in Nagata-cho area. Location to be determined.) Tokyo, Japan—-A delegation of wheelchair-bound congenital Minamata disease victims is arriving in Tokyo this morning seeking a meeting with Yukio Hatoyama and the Minshuto (Democratic Party of Japan) leadership in a last minute effort to halt passage of a Minamata disease bill which will have devastating effects on relief for victims. It was reported in the media yesterday…

May 23, 2009 Saga, Japan MOX Fuel Shipment Arrival Protest Genkai Nuclear Power Plant Citizens oppose arrival of Pacific Pintail and Pacific Heron carrying 20 assemblies of MOX fuel from France to Japan Photo Credit: Saga Hyakunen-no-Kai

Saga Citizens and Consumer Organizations Protest Arrival of MOX Fuel Shipment Japan Should Terminate MOX (plutonium and uranium) Fuel, and Rokkasho Reprocessing Programs For immediate release: May 23, 2009 Contact: Aileen Mioko Smith(Green Action) +81-90-3620-9251 Philip White (Citizens’ Nuclear Information Center) +81-3-3357-3800 May 23rd (Tokyo and Kyoto)—Today, at 6:45 am, amidst citizen protest, the British-flagged vessels the Pacific Pintail and Pacific Heron arrived at the port of Kyushu Electric’s Genkai Nuclear Power Plant and unloaded 20 assemblies of MOX fuel for Genkai Unit 3. The nuclear power plant is scheduled to be the first to use MOX fuel on a commercial scale in Japan. The plan is that the fuel…

Japan Should Terminate MOX (plutonium and uranium) Fuel Program, Cease All Shipments from Europe Japan Should Terminate Fast Breeder Reactor and Reprocessing Programs For immediate release: May 18, 2009 Contact: Aileen Mioko Smith (Green Action) 090-3620-9251 Philip White (Citizens’ Nuclear Information Center) +81-3-3357-3800 “We call on the Japanese government and electric utilities to terminate this and future MOX fuel shipments and cease from placing en route countries at risk. We call on countries potentially on the route of future MOX fuel shipments to join us in demanding the termination of these dangerous shipments” stated BAN Hideyuki, secretary-general of Citizens’ Nuclear Information Center (CNIC), Aileen Mioko SMITH, executive director of Green…

Japan’s Plutonium Program MOX Fuel Shipment 2009: Issues and Controversies MOX Fuel Shipment 2009: Issues and Controversies Presented to the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan by Aileen Mioko Smith (Executive Director of Green Action)Download PDF version (4.3 MB) Japan’s Failed Nuclear Fuel Cycle Japan’s Failed Nuclear Fuel Cycle Presented to the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan by Hideyuki Ban, Co-Director, Citizens’ Nuclear Information Center(CNIC)Download PDF version (270 KB) The text accompanying Hideyuki Ban’s presentation: Japan’s MOX Program and Nuclear Proliferation

11 May 2009 STATEMENT BY JAPANESE AND RUSSIAN ENVIRONMENTAL GROUPS CONSEQUENCES OF JAPAN-RUSSIA NUCLEAR COOPERATION AGREEMENT Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin will arrive in Tokyo today. During his visit he will meet Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso. According to media reports, they may sign a new nuclear cooperation agreement between the two countries. The agreement will allow Japanese nuclear material to be sent to Russia. Japan and Russia have for several years been considering the possibility of extracting uranium from spent nuclear fuel reprocessed in the UK and France and re-enriching it in Russia. The re-enriched uranium could be used in nuclear fuel for Japanese nuclear power plants, but there…

Press Release on Joint Appeal issued by Citizens’ Nuclear Information Center (Tokyo), Green Action (Kyoto), and Greenpeace Japan Download PDF (500KB) Joint Appeal issued by Citizens’Nuclear Information Center (Tokyo),Green Action (Kyoto), and Greenpeace Japan NGOs in Japan Call for Japanese Government and Utilities to Terminate Plutonium Fuel (MOX) Shipments from Europe to Japan, Call for En Route Countries to Join in Ending Shipments Contact: Green Action (Aileen Mioko Smith) +81-90-3620-9251, CNIC (Philip White) +81-3-3357-3800 The appeal can be downloaded at:http://www.greenaction-japan.org/modules/wordpress0/index.php?p=64 For immediate release. 5 March 2009, Tokyo/Kyoto, Japan—- Citizens’ Nuclear Information Center, Green Action, and Greenpeace Japan appealed to the Japanese Government to stop the world’s largest ever shipment of…

Japan Should Terminate its Plutonium Fuel (MOX) Shipments from Europe to Japan and Cease Placing En Route Countries at Risk Download PDF (500KB) Japan’s Plutonium Program is Uneconomic, Unsafe, is a Detriment to Japan’s Energy Program, and Fosters Proliferation Japan Should Terminate its Plutonium Fuel (MOX) Shipments from Europe to Japan and Cease Placing En Route Countries at Risk 5 March 2009 APPEAL On March 6 2009, a shipment of approximately 1.7 metric tons of weapons-usable plutonium contained in 65 assemblies of MOX (mixed plutonium and uranium oxide) fuel is scheduled to depart the port of Cherbourg, France bound for Japan on British-flagged vessels. This will be the world’s largest…