India: Koodankulam senior citizens’ letter to Japanese PM

December 28, 2011

The Senior Citizens of Koodankulam Area
 Koodankulam
 Tirunelveli District
 Tamil Nadu
 Email: koodankulam@yahoo.com

Mr. Yoshihiko Noda
 The Honorable Prime Minister of Japan
 Tokyo
 Japan

Your Excellency:

Greetings! We, the senior citizens of the Koodankulam area in Tirunelveli district of Tamil Nadu, India, would like to appeal to you not to revive the civil nuclear cooperation negotiations with our country.

We have witnessed how your country has suffered from both nuclear weapons and nuclear power. This "Hiroshima to Fukushima" devastation has taken a heavy toll on your country although you are scientifically more capable, technologically superior, and financially better-off than most countries in the world. Our country, India, is not in a position to face a Hiroshima or to suffer a Fukushima.

As the one and only country in the world that has suffered radiation from nuclear bombs and nuclear power plants, Japan must take a lead in saving humanity from the nuclear menace and not try to make money out of the deadly nuclear business. Your government has just found out that it will take some 40 years and $14.6 billion to decommission the Fukushima nuclear power plants. Our country that is fighting the poverty and misery of hundreds of millions of people cannot just afford this criminal waste of time, energies and resources.

We have great regards for your country and we respect your people who are very duty-conscious, hard working and sincere. We learn that about 800 Japanese companies are operating in India; the Japanese foreign direct investments have reached the $3.62 billion mark in 2010-2011; and the India-Japan bilateral trade has had an increase of 24 per cent thanks to the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) with your country.

While we value our country’s socioeconomic-political relations with your country, we definitely do not appreciate any civil nuclear cooperation with Japan or anyone else for that matter. While you yourself are struggling to contain the damages of the Fukushima disaster, you have no moral legitimacy to sell this dangerous technology to other countries. Hence we request you not to revive the civil nuclear cooperation negotiations with India.

With best regards and all peaceful wishes,

Cordially,

The Senior Citizens of Koodankulam Area