On World Fisheries Day: A Call for Nuclear Free Oceans

Wind Energy, Solar Energy, and Bio-Mass Energy can be used to produce electricity. They are all renewable resource energy as well.

(TAMIL NADU, India) - It has been proved on 13th March 2011, through the Fukushima Disaster in Japan, that there is no safety against Nuclear Plants in the World. Nobody knows how to handle the situation in and around Japan, the coast and the sea.

The radiation has reached American waters. What is going to happen in the future nobody knows. The Chernobyl accident in Russia in 1986, has created such havoc there, and the consequence of it still continues. Within a radius of 150kms of the plant, atomic radiation still exists. 97 % of the plant is still alive. They do not know how to close it. About 9 million children have been born deformed with all kinds of problems. Since the Three Mile Accident in the USA, there has not been any new plant erected there.

Nobody knows how to dispose of nuclear waste except, to use it to make atomic bombs.

The Marine Life has been the worst hit. A study done by the Fisheries Department clearly shows this. “Fifty nine out of 103 nuclear plants in the US rely on what are known as ‘once through cooling systems’ to remove waste heat. Nuclear plant authorities have always claimed that their intake and discharge of billions of litres of water a day, does very little harm to the surrounding marine life.

Some years ago, a major report, LICENSED TO KILL: HOW THE NUCLEAR POWER INDUSTRY DESTROY ENDANGERED MARINE WILD LIFE AND OCEAN HABITAT TO SAVE MONEY, released by the well – respected Nuclear Information and Resource Service on February 22, 2001.” These cooling systems suck in and discharge as much as four million litres of water per minute. This water is sucked in at such a high velocity that along with the water, marine life is also sucked in as it is unable to resist velocity. These are dumped back as dead. The high nuclear destruction rates can over take recovery rates, resulting in extensive depletion of the affected species. In this way, entire marine life communities can lose their capacity to sustain themselves.”

“ While millions of litres of hot water is being discharged into the sea every minute, the total heat dumped into the waterway every minute, and tremendous. Roger Witherspoon, the well – known US journalist, author and editor, in a recent article has given some figures. Citing company records, he points out that the nuclear power plantsat Salem, New Jersey, USA, dump about 30 billion BTUs of heat hourly into Delaware Bay. That is equivalent of the heat which would be generated by exploding a nuclear bomb, the size of the bomb which destroyed Hiroshima, in the waters of Delaware Bay every two hours, all day, every day.” Roger Witherspoon, ‘Ravishing the waterways, DEP vs the power Plants’ Dec 13,2010.http://www.nirs.org/reactorwatch.

It is in this context that Japan has decided to close down all its Nuclear Plants. Germany too has decided to close down all their Nuclear Plants. So many countries in the World are following their suit.

However the MNCs who are promoting the technology in making Nuclear Plants are trying their best to push India, Russia, China, and Pakistan etc. to go ahead with their Nuclear Plant Construction programme. WFFP oppose this as the biggest threat to Marine life and the people depend on them. We cannot accept this anymore.

There are many alternate ways of making electricity. Wind Energy, Solar Energy, and Bio-Mass Energy can be used to produce electricity. They are all renewable resource energy as well. Though Australia has the biggest resource of Uranium, they do not have a Nuclear Plant, instead mainly wind energy is being used.

In Japan, Germany, France, India etc. people are against Nuclear Plants. They are looking for a Nuclear Free World. Let us all join hands with them to create a Nuclear Free World. WFFP is very much active with these movements.

Thomas Kocherry,
World Forum of Fisher Peoples (WFFP) Special Invitee,
National Fishworkers’ Forum (NFF), Inda
National Alliance of Peoples Movements(NAPM), India.
7/48, Vayakarai, Manavalakurichy-P.O.Kannyakumari Dt.Tamilnadu-629252.India
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“The life of the Planet and the welfare of the whole humanity should not be sacrificed by the greed of a few”.

Naseegh Jaffer (Co-Cordinator), Souh Africa, Sherry Pictou, (Co-Cordinator), Canada